Rather than being an impediment, NASA can and should be the driver of commerce, the provider of the technology necessary to make some big money in space. The truth is that private enterprise already has a huge presence up there. Homer Hickam More Quotes by Homer Hickam More Quotes From Homer Hickam When I was a boy, one of my favorite places to go was a pine-filled hollow high on the mountain behind our house. It was a place where the industrial song of Coalwood subsided. I would sit on a dead log and listen to nothing except the beating of my own heart and the thoughts racing through my head. Homer Hickam thoughts mountain heart song Persevere with a plan to reach your passion, and life will be good. Homer Hickam will good passion life The mining towns I describe in the 'Helium-3' novel series are not unlike Coalwood, but there is one major difference: Those towns, rather than being located in the Appalachian coalfields, are on the moon. Homer Hickam difference being mining moon I grew up listening to my dad, a miner who rose through the ranks to be the mine superintendent in Coalwood, W.V. , yelling orders into his black company phone. He wanted to get coal out of the ground and into coal cars and on its way to steel mills. Homer Hickam phone dad black rose Tired of burning fossil fuel and polluting the planet? The moon is covered with helium 3, an isotope from the sun that is the perfect fuel for clean fusion reactors. Homer Hickam tired moon perfect sun Interestingly, 'October Sky' is an anagram of 'Rocket Boys', the same letters just moved around. This was discovered by director Joe Johnston using an anagram program on his computer. Homer Hickam director just letters sky My father use to say if coal died, the country died. He was right. Our economy rests on the back of the coal miner. If we did not have the black diamonds of the mountains to burn, we would lose more than half of the nation's energy reserves. Homer Hickam mountains lose black father I have always found the best way to live is to be optimistic and energetic and willing to work hard for my dreams as well as the dreams of others. Homer Hickam dreams work-hard best work I've seen the government up close and personal, and for the most part, it's inefficient and hidebound, and it stifles creativity in any industry it clutches within its well-meaning but slimy tentacles. Homer Hickam seen personal creativity government Personally, I've got bigger hopes for NASA. I will stipulate it should keep putting telescopes in space so we can figure out where we fit in the universe, and it should also keep building those little robots that can and do. Homer Hickam robots building universe space Coalwood, West Virginia, is the little coal-mining town where I grew up, and it was there that five other teenage boys and I famously built and launched rockets. I recounted this story in my memoir, 'Rocket Boys.' Homer Hickam rocket story where up When the moon was first visited in 1969, the astronauts brought back a treasure trove of unique minerals. Contained within specimens was an isotope called Helium-3, which turns out to be the perfect fuel for fusion reactors. Homer Hickam back unique moon perfect Of all the federal agencies created by Congress, one of the true success stories is the 'Mine Safety and Health Administration', which grew out of a bipartisan effort in 1977. Homer Hickam effort safety health success After I'd gotten a year under my belt in college, I thought I'd outgrown my home. Homer Hickam year thought college home When I was a West Virginia lad of 17, I met a Massachusetts lad of 42 by the name of John F. Kennedy. At the time, I was in a bright orange suit that I had just purchased to wear to the 1960 National Science Fair, where I hoped my home-built rockets would win a medal. Kennedy was in West Virginia trying to win the state's presidential primary. Homer Hickam name win time science Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my hometown was at war with itself over its children and that my parents were locked in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives. Homer Hickam parents brother war children After marketing surveys by Universal Studios indicated that 'Rocket Boys' as a movie title would not attract the female over-age-thirty demographic, the film was retitled and released as 'October Sky.' Homer Hickam attract film marketing sky My father lost an eye to a snapped cable while trying to rescue trapped miners, though he kept on working for fifteen years afterward. Homer Hickam eye lost trying father When I began to write my books about Coalwood, I was surprised to discover, upon reflection, that it wasn't an ordinary place at all. Homer Hickam books write place reflection One thing we've learned about space is that the human body starts to fall apart after relatively short exposures to microgravity. Homer Hickam short space body fall
