in october 1957, news of soviet union s launch of sputnik 1 reaches town of coalwood, people work in coal mines. townspeople gather outside on night of broadcast, see satellite orbit across sky. homer h. hickam jr., filled awe, sets out build own rockets out of coalwood. family , classmates not respond kindly, father , mine superintendent, john, wants homer join him in mines. despite this, homer teams math geek quentin wilson, has interest in rocket engineering; support of friends, roy lee cooke , sherman o dell, , science teacher, ms. frieda j. riley — known miss reily, 4 construct small rockets. while first launches failures, experiment new fuels , designs , succeed. local paper runs story them after few of launches. nevertheless, accused of starting forest fire astray rocket , arrested. after john picks homer, roy lee beaten abusive stepfather, vernon. john intervenes , rescues roy lee, warning vernon protect him roy lee s late father have. the 4 abandon rocketry , destroy launch s...