October Sky: A Brief Summary

The book October Sky, also called Rocket Boys, was written by Homer 'Sonny' Hickam, a now famous rocket scientist at NASA. It is an autobiography of Sonny's teenage life, where he and a group of friends build and launch off their own rockets.
The story takes place in Coalwood, West Virginia, a small mining town built directly on top of the most profitable coal mine in West Virginia. Homer Hickam lives with his brother, mother, and father, who is the mine's superintendent. At the time, Sputnik I had just been launched by the Russians, gripping America with fear of the Soviets' intentions. However, Sonny Hickam was not afraid by Sputnik, but transfixed by it. He dreamed of building rockets and working for his hero, Wernher von Braun.
At his first attempt at building and launching a rocket, he took a hollow flashlight tube, filled it with gunpowder, and succeeded in blowing up his mother's fence.

He later realized that if he and his friends were to successfully to build and launch rockets, they would need some help.

Sonny approahces and quickly befriends the school 'nerd', who helped him design and build more advanced rockets. They soon dub their group, 'The Rocket Boys of Big Creek Missile Agency'.

Sonny's father never really supported him with anything he did in life;but favored his older so, who was a star football player at Big Creek High School. People said that the only thing Big Creek High School produced were coal miners and football players. However, Sonny had no aspirations to be either one of those. He wanted to build and launch rockets and work for Wernher von Braun.

After launching off a few rockets, they accidently hit the coal mine, because they are too close to the town. Finally, Sonny's father lets them have a large, empty slack field, which has nothing but usless left over coal dust. It was the perfect place to lauch off their rockets. They soon built their own lauch platform with cement, and a safehouse from which they launch their rockets.

Sonny's father told him that to keep his rocket field, he would never launch another rocket into Coalwood again. That accidentally happens a few months later, and Sonny's father is angry. The company tears apart the safehouse and closes off the property with barbed wire.

The locals are outraged, and help rebuild the launch site.

A lot of things happen that I am leaving out, but people have expressed to me that my notorious summaries are far too long and monotonous, so I will jump to the point.

Later, Sonny and his team enter the science fair, win, go to county, win, go to state, win, and are contestants in the national science fair. Sonny goes there, and wins.

Shortly after, his high school science teacher dies, and Sonny launches his last rocket in remembrance of her, Miss. Riley.

Sonny goes to college, and later gets a job at NASA, where he is a successful rocket scientist.

His brother, Jim, gets a football scholarship, graduates college, and later becomes a high school football coach.

The other members of the Big Creek Missile Agency all graduated from college.

I know, it was a crappy summary; I'm sorry.