3.5/4  Before he was a gay cowboy, he worked for NASA.
A really great movie from a true story. I love that the REAL Homer Hickam (the person the movie is about) did commentary on the DVD. The bad thing about this movie is that it's so hard to tell someone about it if they haven't seen it wit... (read full)

5/5 Best inspirational movie
  by Eleanor Campbell
This movie could inspire any one that they could accomplish any thing.
There are even lesson plans to go with it on the internet.

4/5 Sweet! Charming! Delightful to watch
  by Gautam De (New Jersey, USA)
This is based on a real life however still has a lot of dramatic elements to the delight of the viewers. It speaks about a boy and his dream to build a rocket in a most ordinary part of America. The boys do look like just ordinary American kids which is why this movie appeals me even more. This is not like a soap opera. The charm of this movie lies in its simplicity. A sweetness and innocence is written all over it. It is bound to remind you about your high school life. Very small, insignificant moments which we never witness in regular movies shown in the film makes it feel as if we are watching our young ages. In some beautiful passages, this film almost replays man's journey with science and technology, where failure has been a constant threat, still man went ahead to conquer the unknown.
Only one thing I felt could have made the ending even better is pushing the scope little further. What does our study teach us? Just the tools to get a job? Surely not. Study or education teaches us to solve all challenges we come across in life, to find answers to all questions that life keeps asking us. May be our parents and elders have found the answers before us, but we have to find these again for us. We cannot keep looking to parents for answers. In that sense, even after we leave college, our student life does not end. Life is itself like an examination, where questions are all unknown and unseen, there is no single book like 'Principles of Guided Missile Design' which we can look to for answers. It is we ourselves who have to do our own research to find a proper answer. That is the best fruit of education, like the mission of these boys to win the National Science Fair. The endeavor of the boys just did not help them to win the Fair, but the confidence and character to face any challenge in life - even of student life. That is the best blessing of having education. The script could have touched this a little.
But overall, a very sweet piece to enjoy. A MUST watch for All - even if you are no math wizard.

5/5 Review for October Sky
  by Richard Davidson Jr. (Alexandria, VA)
October Sky is a movie about a young boy who gets smitten with rockets. There are many great scenes in this movie, but the one I like is O. Winston Link as the engineer of the steam locomotive passing the boys after they pulled up a rail to use to make a better rocket. O. Winston Link had photographed the last of the steam locomotives in action on the Norfolk & Western Rlwy in the Appalachians. It was appropriate for him to be in this scene as, not too long after this, he passed away close to his home in the New York town of Mt. Kisco. Also, the belief the boy's teacher had was also special. Lastly, a lot of the Appalachian scenery is shown in this movie. I really liked this movie.

5/5 Will delight and Inspire
  by David Lee-Smith (Upper Hutt, New Zealand)
With so many reviews already online, I just wanted to add my vote to the many that affirm the rewards of viewing this excellent film. I have shown it to children, teenagers, adults and seniors, and all have commented on its power to delight and inspire. It was particularly moving to see the real people depicted in the film at the conclusion of the story. David Lee-Smith, New Zealand

5/5 A Very Special Story About A Young Man's Dreams
  by Buckminster (Saint Charles, Missouri)
A wonderful movie based on a true story from the late 1950s. Homer Hickam is a young man struggling to find his identity as he dreams about space, rockets, and getting out of the small mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. The movie is full of characters in Coalwood that help a young man achieve his dreams. It also portrays the hardships associated with being different as a small group of Homer's friends, that today might be called "nerds", dare to pursue their passion to build rockets. A major theme of the movie is Homer's relationship with his family, especially his father who would rather see Homer become a coal miner than dream about being a rocket scientist.