Homer Hickam's Rocket Boys

What is the greatest thing mankind has accomplished? Now, how did the person behind it accomplish something so great? It is because of goals. Everyone has goals, whether it is getting honor roll for a marking period or maybe it is to become the first human to set foot on the surface of Mars. No matter how big or small they may be, goals are what drive humans to do their best. What would have happened if John F. Kennedy never challenged the United States to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s? Well, the United States would probably still be years behind in science, if not tied up in the cold war. In Homer Hickam’s memoir, Rocket Boys, he is the John F. Kennedy or Steve Jobs of his town. In his memoir, Hickam tells about the seemingly un-attainable goals he set for himself and

how he achieves these goals through hard work, determination, and perseverance.
Throughout the novel, Homer Hickam displays that his is a strong worker, supporting the team, and when necessary, he takes blame for all of the accidents caused by the group’s rockets. Hickam started with no prior knowledge of how to build a rocket. Homer Hickam has little knowledge of how to build a rocket. Quentin, who has prior knowledge on the topic, joins the team and tells them how to create the black powder propellant. Homer works hard with Quentin to develop the perfect black powder to fuel their rockets, their method was this: “First, we mixed up several small batches of what we hoped was black powder and, as a test, opened the grate and threw a spoonful of each into the coal-fired hot-water heater beside the washing machine”(Hickam 76). This solution worked surprisingly well as the series of AUK rockets to follow were quite successful compared to the glorified pipe-bomb that was the group’s first rocket. However, Hickam really shows how he can work hard when he is denied the opportunity to learn calculus with the rest of his team. He gets luck and finds one of his father’s books, “Then my eyes lit on one. It was titled Advanced Mathematics, a Guide for Self-Study. ..Its index included several chapters on differential equations and calculus…I took Dad’s book—it was mine now—into my room”(Hickam 217). Through his hard work, he asks Quentin if he could perform the calculus equations and Quentin replies, “‘No,’ he said adamantly. ‘Miss Riley gave you the book. You know calculus as well as I do. Quit stalling!’”(Hickam 276). Hickam pursued learning calculus on his own until he was as good as anyone else. Homer Hickam’s hard work is one of the major contributing factors that led to him becoming so successful.
Hickam worked very hard in order to accomplish his goal of building a rocket.

Homer Hickam tries his best to source materials for his rockets. In Coalwood, some of the necessary materials are hard to find and has to negotiate to get these parts. Hickam also worked hard to form his team, he convinced Quentin to join the team and build the rockets and more importantly the team to work with Quentin. Hickam approaches Quentin and asks him to join to which Quentin replies, “‘Ho-ho!’ he exclaimed. ‘The same as you, old chap! If I learn how to build a rocket, I’ll stand a better chance of getting on down at the Cape’” (Hickam 70). Lastly, he constantly improved the design of his rockets. Homer Hickam was in charge of calculating the De Laval nozzles’ design and the launch of the first rocket bearing his design is described as: “It [The Rocket] flew straight, slicing without flinching through the plane of the mountaintops. Sherman counted. ‘Ten, eleven, twelve …’ I watched as the smoke trailed off from the Auk, and then it disappeared” (Hickam 268). He launched numerous rockets at once which exposed possible patterns of failure, and he immediately worked to fix flaws in his

design.
The most important way Hickam succeeded was his incredible perseverance. His first mishap occurred with his first rocket launch. His rocket turned into a big fireball, which lit his mom’s rose garden fence on fire. This was described to Hickam as, “[The] rocket was a beautiful and glorious sight, and I guess he was right as far as it went. The only problem was, it wasn’t our rocket that streaked into that dark, cold, clear, and starry night. It was my mother’s rose-garden fence”(Hickam 49). Despite his well know and public failure, his mom spoke to him and convinced him to continue and try to build another rocket. After his first failure, he tried again and launched a rocket that went into town and could have severely hurt someone. His dad called him in on his way from school and told Hickam, “‘This is the end of it,’ he said over his shoulder as he shook out the last bag of saltpeter, ‘and this time I mean it. Collect stamps, catch frogs, keep bugs in a jar, do whatever you want. But no more rockets.’”(Hickam 101). Despite this, he eventually continued to build his rockets. Lastly, during the labor strike, his cat and companion was hit by a car. Although he was depressed for quite some time, he eventually began to build rockets again, and organize a “grand finale” as the boys left the town for college.

During Homer Hickam’s years at Big Creek High school, he and his friends soared to great heights because of his hard work, determination, and perseverance. Quinten, who would not have attended college otherwise, attended a college and become successful. He, on the other hand, accomplished his goal of leaving Coalwood and become a NASA engineer; however he never met his hero, Werner von Braun. Homer Hickam’s memoir is an uplifting story about how setting unattainable goals can put them in reach. This principle can and should be applied to anyone’s life.