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Homer Hickam

Homer Hickam has led a remarkable life. Not only is he a #1 New York Times best-selling author, he's a scuba instructor who has led expeditions to sunken wrecks, a former NASA engineer with international praise for his design of spacecraft, a decorated Vietnam veteran, and a renowned inspirational speaker.

His books have sold millions of copies and are being studied in over 400 schools and colleges.  Hickam is a prolific writer who continues to author intriguing page-turners that are eagerly anticipated by his legions of fans. His series of memoirs beginning with Rocket Boys (also known as October Sky) and continued with The Coalwood Way and Sky of Stone are extremely popular and have been translated into many languages. His latest book, titled We Are Not Afraid, is a bit of a departure from his previous work. It is a book written to help people overcome the effects of long-term  fear, a condition that destroys thousands of lives every year and holds  millions back from their true potential.

Hickam is also the subject of the wonderful movie, October Sky, based on his book Rocket Boys. It tells the story of the days when he was growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia, a place of hardworking coal miners. Hickam, rather than following in his father's footsteps into the deep mine, decided to do something else: He began to build rockets. Before he was done, he and his fellow Rocket Boys would bring honor and glory to their home town, their teachers, and their parents.

Biographical Information

Homer H. Hickam, Jr. was born February 19, 1943, and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia. He graduated from Big Creek High School in 1960 and from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in 1964 with a BS degree in Industrial Engineering. A U.S. Army veteran, Hickam served as a First Lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1967-1968 where he won the Army Commendation and Bronze Star medals. He served six years on active duty, leaving the service with the rank of Captain. Hickam was employed as an engineer for the U.S. Army Missile Command from 1971 to 1981 assigned to Huntsville, Alabama, and Germany. He began employment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Marshall Space Flight Center in 1981 as an aerospace engineer.

During his long NASA career, Hickam worked in propulsion, spacecraft design, and crew training, and won many awards including the Astronaut Office's coveted "Silver Snoopy" award for his outstanding support of the astronaut corps, and a special commendation for overall excellence from the Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. His specialties at NASA included training astronauts on science payloads, and extravehicular activities (EVA). He also trained astronaut crews for many Spacelab and Space Shuttle missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, the first two Hubble repair missions, Spacelab-J (the first Japanese astronauts), and the Solar Max repair mission. Prior to his retirement in 1998, Hickam was the Payload Training Manager for the International Space Station Program (Author's Website)

Homer Hickam is married to Linda Terry Hickam. They have four cats and live in Huntsville, Alabama, which, appropriately enough, is known as Rocket City, USA.

Bibliography:
Back To The Moon
The Coalwood Way
The Keeper's Son
October Sky (paperback ed. of Rocket Boys)
Rocket Boys
Sky Of Stone
Torpedo Junction
We Are Not Afraid

Author's Website:
http://www.homerhickam.com

Alabama Bound ¨Birmingham Public Library ¨ 2100 Park Place ¨ Birmingham, AL 35203-2974 ¨ 205-226-3600
Last Updated: 13 February 2004               Send Comments to our Webmaster