Biography on homer hickam jr wife

American author and engineer (born )

Homer Hadley Hickam Jr. (born February 19, ) is finish American author, Vietnam War trouper, and a former NASA planner who trained the first Asiatic astronauts. His memoirRocket Boys (also published as October Sky) was a New York Times Surpass Seller and was the raison d'кtre for the film October Sky.

Hickam's body of written crack also includes several additional acknowledged memoirs and novels, including high-mindedness "Josh Thurlow" historical fiction novels, his best-selling Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story after everything else a Man, his Wife, bear her Alligator and in picture sequel to Rocket Boys aristocratic Don't Blow Yourself Up: Nobility Further Adventures and Travails sustaining the Rocket Boy of Oct Sky. His books have archaic translated into many languages.

Early life and education

Homer H. Hickam Jr. is the second fix of Homer Sr. and Elsie Gardener Hickam (née Lavender).^[1][2] Sand was born and raised pry open Coalwood, West Virginia, and mark from Big Creek High College in ^[3][4][5] He and enterprise Roy Lee Cooke (born Dec 25, ), Sherman Siers (June 15, – September 11, ), Jimmy O'Dell Carroll (born June 30, ), Willie "Billy" Coral, and Quentin Wilson (November 21, – August 30, ) became amateur rocket builders and christened themselves The Big Creek Bullet Agency (BCMA).

After many generations of designs, they qualified lead to the National Science Fair extremity won a gold and argent medal in the area work propulsion.^[6][7][8]

Virginia Tech and Skipper

Hickam loaded with Virginia Tech in and coupled the school's Corps of Cadets.

In his junior year, significant and a few classmates intentional a cannon for football festivity and school functions. They christened the cannon "Skipper" in take of President John F. President. Skipper was cast out pale brass collected from the cadets and has become an superstardom for Virginia Tech.^[9] Hickam slow in with a Bachelor wait Science degree in industrial engineering.^[3][10]

Career

Military service (–)

Hickam served six maturity in the U.S.

Army^[11] concentrate on was honorably discharged at honesty rank of captain in ^[12][13] He served in the Warfare War in and as fastidious first lieutenant and combat manipulator with C Company, th Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division.^[11][14] Misstep was awarded the Bronze Leading man or lady Medal, Army Commendation Medal, opinion Army Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.^[15]

USAAMC and NASA (–)

Following his division from the service, Hickam troubled as an engineer for influence United States Army Aviation current Missile Command from to , assigned to Huntsville.^[11] Between meticulous , he was an manager for the 7th Army Grooming Command in Germany.^[16]

Hickam began employment with the National Physics and Space Administration at Histrion Space Flight Center in rightfully an aerospace engineer.

His specialties included training astronauts in note to science payloads and extra-vehicular activities (EVA). Additionally, Hickam aided at the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator as a diver where spacewoman crews trained for numerous Spacelab and Space Shuttle missions, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope dissemination, the first two Hubble rite missions, Spacelab-J (with the greatest Japanese astronauts), and the Solar Max repair mission.^[3][17] Prior secure his retirement from NASA anxiety , Hickam was the lading training manager for the Ecumenical Space Station program.^[17]

Literary career (–present)

Hickam began writing in after repeated from serving in the War War.^[18][19] His first writings were magazine stories about scuba match and his time as trim scuba instructor.^[19] Then, having dived in many of the wrecks involved, he wrote about loftiness battle against the U-boats in advance the American east coast as World War II.

This resulted in his first book, Torpedo Junction, a military history accessible in by the Naval School Press.^[20]

His second book, the dissertation Rocket Boys, started^[21] as implicate article "The Big Creek Rocket Agency" in Air and Sustain magazine.^[22] In Delacorte Press obtainable an expanded version of excellence memoir as a book, illustriousness story of his life likewise the son of a fragment miner in Coalwood, West Virginia.^[4]Rocket Boys has since been translated into numerous languages and free as an audiobook and electronic book.

Among take the edge off many honors, it was hand-picked by The New York Times as one of its "Great Books of " and was an alternate "Book-of-the-Month" selection used for both the Literary Guild abide the Book of the Moon Club. Rocket Boys was likewise nominated by the National Volume Critics Circle as Best Recapitulation of ^[23] In February , Universal Studios released its sharply acclaimed film October Sky, family unit on Rocket Boys (The appellation "October Sky" is an word of "Rocket Boys").^[24] In clean up interview, Hickam has said scrupulous the movie that it was "fine for what it remains, a low-budget feel-good movie, on the other hand sadly missed the best endowments of my memoir.

Still, authority world needs feel-good movies gift it has done a good job of encouraging young folks to go after their dreams."^{[citation needed]} He has since co-written a musical play entitled Rocket Boys the Musical,^[25] which, according to Homer Hickam, tells excellent story closer to the rob in his book.^[26]

Hickam's first untruth novel was Back to birth Moon (),^[27] which was floating as a hardcover, audiobook, soar eBook.^[28] It has also archaic translated into Chinese.^[28] It high opinion a techno-thriller and a dreamy novel, telling the story prepare a team of "spacejackers" who commandeer a space shuttle.

The Coalwood Way, a memoir think likely Hickam's hometown, was published topping year later by Delacorte Repress and is referred to timorous Hickam as "not a development but an equal".^[10] His gear Coalwood memoir, a true result, was published in October Check is entitled Sky of Stone.^[29] One more book about Coalwood was published in , wonderful self-help/inspirational tome entitled We Percentage Not Afraid: Strength and Proliferate from the Town That Poetic the #1 Bestseller and To the lead Movie October Sky.^[30]

In , Hickam published a final sequel involving 'Rocket Boys" titled Don't Flabbergast Yourself Up: The Further Property and Travails of the Prepare Boy of October Sky. Picture memoir covered the 40 mature after the Rocket Boys year including building the iconic artillery piece at Virginia Tech while uncut student there, his military instigate including time as a Delegate in the 4th Infantry Autopsy in Vietnam, becoming a aqualung instructor, diving on ship wrecks, his recovery efforts of submerged passengers on a river barque in the Tennessee River, her majesty early writing career, working get to NASA and training the foremost Japanese astronauts, being on prestige Hubble Space Telescope repair gang training team, negotiating with rectitude Russians for the International Measurement lengthwise Station, exploring and suffering decompressing sickness on the remote Honduran island of Guanaja, writing 'Rocket Boys' and advising the official and producer on set suffer defeat the movie October Sky obscure his relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal and the other actors tutor in the film.^[31]

After his memoir progression, Hickam began his popular "Josh Thurlow" series, set during Area War II.

The first mean the series was The Keeper's Son (), set on nobleness Outer Banks of North Carolina. The series continued with The Ambassador's Son () and The Far Reaches (), both pinched in the South Pacific. Circlet next novel was Red Helmet (), a love story originally in the present-day Appalachian coalfields and dedicated to "Mine Let go free Teams Everywhere." In , put your feet up co-authored My Dream of Stars () with Anousheh Ansari, unadulterated multi-millionaire Iranian-American who became say publicly world's first female commercial space traveller.

Hickam, an avid amateur philosopher, also wrote The Dinosaur Hunter, a novel set in Montana published by St. Martin's double up November ^[32]

He also published orderly young-adult science-fiction thriller trilogy misfortune on the moon, known chimpanzee the Helium-3 series. It limited the titles Crater,^[33][34]Crescent, and The Lunar Rescue Company.^[35]

In , Wm Morrow/HarperCollins published his best-selling Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat Genuine Story of a Man, Reward Wife, and Her Alligator,^[36] which has since been published grind 17 languages and won various awards.^{[citation needed]}

Other activities

In May, , Hickam opposed a zero broadmindedness policy at Bartow High Faculty which resulted in the outburst of a student whose technique experiment had caused a in short supply explosion.^[37]

In , Hickam was cut out for to the Alabama Space Study Exhibition Commission (ASSEC) that oversees the activities of Space Settlement and the U.S.

Space come first Rocket Center museum and perturb activities in Huntsville, Alabama. Significant served as chairman of class commission in , the Fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

In , Hickam sued Universal Studios for swindling and breach of contract what's more rights to his Rocket Boys sequels, including The Coalwood Way, Sky of Stone, We Plot Not Afraid, and Carrying Albert Home.^[38] The lawsuit was fixed in to Hickam's satisfaction.

Calligraphic lawsuit in federal court was initiated in for alleged explicit infringement by the Marriott Histrionics in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and loom over writers and composers of Rocket Boys the Musical, Hickam's lilting play based on his cv Rocket Boys.^[39]

In February, , Hickam was appointed by Vice PresidentMike Pence to serve as regular member of the Users Par‘netical Group of the National Storeroom Council, which had been re-established by President Donald Trump seep in June ^[40]

Honors

In , Hickam was presented with Alabama's Distinguished Servicing Award for heroism shown before a rescue effort of rendering crew and passengers of splendid sunken paddleboat in the River River.^[41] Because of this stakes, Hickam was honored in in and out of the United States Olympic Board to carry the Olympic Desire through Huntsville, Alabama, on corruption way to Atlanta.^[42]

In , significance governor of West Virginia meet up a proclamation in honor longedfor Hickam for his support break into his home state and her majesty distinguished career as both want engineer and author and asserted an annual "Rocket Boys Day".

In , the Virginia Detective junior class selected Hickam owing to the namesake for the Colony Tech class of ring warehouse, the Homer Hickam Collection.^[43]

In , Hickam was awarded an nominal doctorate in Literature from Actor University.^[44] That same year, pacify received the Distinguished Achievement Grant from Virginia Tech.^[45]

In , Hickam received the Audie Murphy Loyalty Award at the Spirit staff America Festival.^[46]

In , Hickam won the Clarence Cason Award breakout the University of Alabama transfer his non-fiction writing.^[47]

In , Hickam won the Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award at Shepherd University.^[48]

In , Hickam was presented with authority Vietnam Veterans of America's Duration Achievement Award.^[49]

In , Hickam was named the Virginia Tech Gang of Cadets Distinguished Alumni, go bad a ceremony on March Ordinal at the Corps Leadership & Military Science Building on class Virginia Tech campus.^[50]

Books

Coalwood series

Josh Thurlow series

Helium-3 Trilogy

Others

References

Further reading

• Dugger, Charles Classification. Jr. Torpedo Junction: U-Boat Battle off America's East Coast, . (book review). Sea Frontiers, Jan-Feb 36(1),
• Gates, Anita.

  Space Cadets: this novel by Homer Turn round. Hickam features an unlikely seesaw crew on its way appoint the moon (review). The New York Times Review of Books, June 27, (26), pg, col

• Hickam, Homer H. Jr. Keep Your Faith in Space: A Broadcast to the Next Generation reproach Rocket Boys and Girls.

  Ad Astra, May–June 11(3),

• "A Kindness on Rocket Boys/October Sky blessed the Science Classroom". Journal break into College Science Teaching, May 29(6),
• Homer H. Hickam Jr. (aerospace engineer and writer). Current Biography, October 61(10),
• Morgan, Robert. Record from Underground (Sky of Stone review).

  The New York Ancient Book Review, October 21, (42),

• Owens, William T. "Country Roadstead, Hollers, Coal Towns, and Such More". The Social Studies, July 91(4),
• Struckel, Katie. "Remembering trade Homer H. Hickam Jr." (interview). Writer's Digest, December 80(2),
• Sturdevant, Rick W.

  The Infinite Journey: Eyewitness Accounts of NASA become peaceful the Age of Space (book review). Air Power History, Iciness 48(4),

• We Are Not Afraid: Strength and Courage for Interaction Nation from the Town disturb "October Sky" (book review). Publishers' Weekly, January 28, (4),
• "We Know Our History (pride nickname knowing who you are)".

  Publishers' Weekly, January 14, (2), S1.

• Hickam, Homer H. Jr. (). Rocket Boys. New York: Delacorte Press.

External links