In the coal forest area of West Virginia, mining coal is the center of life for all local people. Horner's father, John Hickmanafter his own hard work, finally became a supervisor and established his own status and prestige in the local area. John likes coal mines, because this is the reason for the existence of the whole area. If no one finds a coal mine there, there is no such thing as a "coal forest". He is the central figure in the entire region, and he also hopes that Hornerand his brother Jim will succeed him. But Jim won a rugby scholarship in school and was able to continue his studies. Horner also had his own plans, and he wanted to come out. He wanted to get out of the "coal forest" to pursue his ideals. He wanted to be a scientist, but his father didn't understand. So they continue to contradict each other. Horner grew up in this situation and experienced his father's anger, lover's love, hatred for brothers, and love for friends.
In October 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the world's first artificial satellite. At the time when the Cold War was in the ascendant, this incident caused great repercussions among Americans. The people of Meilin Town gathered together to watch the satellites flying across the sky from the night sky. The satellite not only left beautiful traces in the sky, but also ignited Horner's dream. Inspired by rocket pioneer Werner von Braun, Horner invented his first rocket. He took the gunpowder from the small firecracker and put it in the flashlight. He thought it could fly up to three hundred feet, but it exploded in his mother's little garden. But he was not discouraged, and summoned two helpers: Roe Leeand Odell. With the help of local mathematician Quinting, he designed And produced a series of rockets. Horner himself is not a mathematical genius, but Quinting is; he is not good at collecting, but Odell knows how to get the materials he needs; Roe Lee is a communication master, he can seduce people to hand over what they need. Horner only had enthusiasm and confidence, but he gave them all enthusiasm and confidence.
Their physical chemistry teacher Li Leiplayedfound them a book on rockets, and they taught themselves and used what they learned in their rockets. Li Lei uses her teacher's identity to educate the children, especially Horner, to make him think that he can be the person he wants to be. So no matter what difficulties he encountered, he was amazingly overcome.
After a series of accidents, they established a launch base in an abandoned garbage dump outside the village and named it "Meilinjiao". The first rocket they successfully launched was called "Auk One." Auk refers to a flightless bird. The rocket flew in an arc and rushed towards the coal mine, people ran around, and finally the rocket crashed near Horner's father's office. This caused his father's anger. Horner realized that his father was not interested in the Rockets and everything he did. This made him very sad, angry and frustrated.
As their rocket flew higher and higher and straighter, the children became local celebrities. Crowds watch them launch rockets, and they make money from selling scraps, metal fragments, and other things. In the end, their rockets were flying higher and higher, entering the science exhibition and even winning prize money seemed just around the corner. This has become not only their dream, but also the dream of the entire region.
In February 1998, Horner officially retired as a NASA engineer
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