October Sky
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October Sky is a 1999 American biographical drama film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Lewis Colick. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dern. Based on the book
Theatrical release poster
Jake Gyllenhaal
Chris Cooper 2 Shankbone 2009 Tribeca
Laura Dern Deauville 2017
Homer Hickam
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Homer Hadley Hickam Jr. is an American author, Vietnam War veteran, and a former NASA engineer who trained the first Japanese astronauts. His 1998 memoir Rocket Boys was a New York Times Best Seller a
October Sky
…stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dern. Based on the book Rocket Boys (later published as October Sky), it tells the story of Homer H. Hickam Jr., a coal miner's son from Coalwood, West Virginia, who takes up amateur rocketry with his friends. Hickam would later become a NASA engineer. Filming…
Homer Hickam Jr. (left) and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Director Art Stephenson during a conference at Morris Auditorium on July 16, 1999
Cover of Hickam's book, "Rocket Boys" Published in 1998.
Hickam (seated) in West Virginia governor Jim Justice's office, 2017