Throughout october, the library will sponsor book discussions, films and activities for all ages all focused around the reading of the book. They employ several fuel mixtures including rocket candy and a mixture called zincoshine, which is composed of zinc dust and sulfur, along with alcohol from. At the same time, at least two of my colleagues were building their own rockets, using the same grassroots methods. Rocket boys and october sky as told in rocket boys. What does it take to make a rocket like in october sky.
The movie october sky told the story of four teenage west virginia boys who, in the late 1950s, built a rocket that made it six miles into the sky. I think he used gunpowder with some kind of glue around it for auk 1 but then they did something else later in the movie to make it better. But rocket boys does something remarkable with that genre. Faced with an uncertain future, sonny hickam aka homer hickam, jr.
Warn students that rocketry is a dangerous activity. Homer hickam talks about building rockets and the october sky festival 3 of 3. He was born in 1943 in coalwood, wv to elsie lavender hickam and homer. This article will give you a chapter by chapter october sky summary. Homer grew up in a small town, but dreams to live a life better. The book was then republished as october sky shortly afterwards.
Of course october sky is a movie based on a book of the true story of homer hickam, the book is titled rocket boys. October sky was followed by the coalwood way 2000, sky of stone 2002, and carrying albert home 2015. The rocket boys enjoyed mixed success during their three year rocket launching campaign 1957 to 1960. Chapters 16 october sky october sky, or rocket boys. It was originally called rocket boys but was reprinted as october sky to tie in with the movie.
The students needed to determine how much fuel to load in the rocket. The fundamental principle of the rocket is newtons third law. In the book rocket boys the book october sky was based off of, the very first test rocket he built out of an old flashlight was fueled with powder from a leftover cherry bomb firework. Sep 22, 2015 the rocket boys enjoyed mixed success during their three year rocket launching campaign 1957 to 1960. It received so much acclaim and interest, he was asked to write a book detailing the whole story. If you like memoirs, books about the space race or the 50s i predict you will love rocket boys and from rocket boys to october sky. Perhaps you want to borrow his autobiography from the library and see what he says in the book about the formula. The true story of how your science teacher can change your life. Potential rocket fuels include saltpeter and gunpowder. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The boys unsafely prepare rocket fuel with alcohol over an open flame. Rocket boys and this mass market paperback titled october sky are the same book.
As it turns out, auk xxiid lands in an abandoned field, hurting no one, and the townspeople are more amused than angry. The proper title of the book, however, is and always shall be rocket boys. Correct explanations are given for the motion of propellant gas through the nozzle of a rocket. I, too, grew up in a rural area on a dirt road in the woods of nh. Note, in the movie, hickams father is falsely named john hickam as a way to not confuse the audience. One way to make rocket fuel is to mix saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. October sky no teams 1 team 2 teams 3 teams 4 teams 5 teams 6 teams 7 teams 8 teams 9 teams 10 teams custom press f11 select menu option view enter fullscreen for fullscreen mode. A memoir was published by delacorte press in september 1998 and the movie based on it, october sky premiered nationwide on his birthday february 19, 1999.
Homer is terrified that his rocket will kill someone, as is roy lee. Quentin was the class joke, using big words all the time. The title of the paperback released at the same time was changed to the movie title, which is an anagram of rocket boys take the letters of rocket boys and move them around to. Homer hickam, the storys central character, sees science and rockets as a way to avoid a life working in the coal.
The response to the article was overwhelming and hickam was offered both a book and movie deal, leading to the full length memoir, rocket boys of which the subsequent title october sky is an angrarm, and was followed by the coalwood way 2000 and sky of stone 2002. What did homer use as the fuel for his first rocket. Filled with awe and a belief that this may be his chance out of coalwood, homer sets out to build rockets of his own and enter the science fair. They employed several fuel mixtures including rocket candy and a mixture called zincoshine, which was composed of zinc dust and sulfur, along with alcohol made by a local bootlegger as a binder for the mixture.
The movie october sky doesnt tell the audience everything the rocket boys used to construct their rockets but they did reveal a couple of ingredients. Jun, 2009 of course october sky is a movie based on a book of the true story of homer hickam, the book is titled rocket boys. They employ several fuel mixtures including rocket. A memoir and in the movie october sky, the story of the rocket boys provides an opportunity to use a popular book and a movie adaptation as teaching tools. A memoir was published by delacorte press in september 1998 and. Hickman, a man who i never knew existed prior to this films release.
The rocket boys enjoy mixed success during their threeyear rocket launching campaign 1957 to 1960. The boys use trig to figure out how far in the sky the rocket goes. If you like memoirs, books about the space race or the 50s i predict you will love rocket boys and from rocket boys to. Teaching chemistry using october sky edgewood college. I think its a thrilling story that takes you through the lives of a teenager who lives in a town where almost every boy turns. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. Later, homer is inspired to read a book on rocket science from miss riley, learning to calculate the trajectory of a rocket. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly transcribed using the screenplay andor viewings of october sky. A team of editors takes feedback from our visitors to keep trivia as up to date and as accurate as possible. I was especially surprised to discover that the book and movie came out somewhat simultaneously, and how this all happened. What did homer use as fuel for his rocket in october sky. They switched their fuel from black powder to potassium chlorate. What quadratic formula was used in the movie october sky.
Feb 19, 1999 with the gungho wholesomeness of a horatio alger story by way of norman rockwell, it tells how homer h. With the gungho wholesomeness of a horatio alger story by way of norman rockwell, it tells how homer h. Rocket boys was made into a film in 1999, titled october sky an anagram of rocket boys. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to elsie and homer hickman. From rocket boys to october sky connected the two for me. Chapterbychapter october sky summary rocket boys by. October sky is a 1999 film directed by joe johnston, starring jake gyllenhaal, laura dern, and chris cooper. Unlike homer hickam, the hero of october sky, i didnt go on to become a nasa. In the book, october sky, high school students were experimenting with different rocket designs. Based on the book, rocket boys, by homer hickam, jr. Like the hero of october sky, i remember the shock that ran through america when the russians launched sputnik on oct. In this chapter, the bcma discovers a new a way to make rocket fuel. Set in 1957, the film follows young homer gyllenhaal in the mining town of coalwood, west virgina, where almost every man works in the mine.
Movies lp this category is for questions and answers related to october sky, as asked by users of. Rocket boys, the homer hickam autobiography that became the movie october sky, is the book the library has chosen for the program. The rocket boys, reaching for the october sky asia times. This rocket used the combination of successful cones, fuel type, etc. It received so much acclaim and interest, he was asked to write a book. Finally, the october sky script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the jake gyllenhaal and chris cooper movie.
Feb 22, 2008 in the book rocket boys the book october sky was based off of, the very first test rocket he built out of an old flashlight was fueled with powder from a leftover cherry bomb firework. October sky is a 1999 american biographical drama film directed by joe johnston and starring jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, chris owen, and laura dern. The title of the paperback released at the same time was changed to the movie title, which is an anagram of rocket boys take the letters of rocket boys and move them around to spell october sky. In chapters 46 of homer hickmans october sky, he enlists additional help and has some success, even as other things are falling apart.
Like giving them a book on rocketry, and showing them new materials for rocket fuel to name a few. In october, news of the soviet unions rocket launch of sputnik 1 reaches coalwood. October sky the title on the mass market movie tiein version of the bestselling the rocket boys is the first memoir in a series of four, by homer hickam jr. It flies straight up, but homer s small fins turn out to be a mistakethe rocket swerves and heads toward frog level. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. Students in the film did not show their careful documentation of their experiments. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home. It was 1957, the year sputnik raced across the appalachian sky, and the small town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. Earth and space science, physics of forces and motion, chemical reactions. In 1960, the rocket boys 35th and final auk soared six incredible miles. Such documentation is described in the book, rocket boys.
Rocket boys, october sky homer hickam collectspace. The boys in october sky each have their own motives for learning rocket science. October sky is a simple, but heartfelt tale about homer h. A memoir in 1998 and the premiere of the movie october sky in 1999, homer hickam readers and fans have wondered how and why he wrote the book, and how the movie was made. October sky script transcript from the screenplay andor. Originally titled the rocket boys when hickam wrote it in 1998, the book can also be found under the title october sky which was released in conjunction with the movie tiein in 1999. The book and the movie based on it inspired tens of thousands of young. Theres an outstanding book about this element of the creative process called brainstorm. As the townspeople gather outside the night of the broadcast, they see the satellite orbit across the sky. They become a team and start building more rockets. October sky movie rocket launches flashcards quizlet. If you read the book you will see that homer had access to the machine shop at the coal mine where his dad was superintendent. It is rocket candy because when the rocket is launched the smoke smells sweet or like candy. He is the person who wrote the book, the rocket boys which, by the way, i am reading right now.
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