Homer Hickam is an American author, Vietnam veteran army, and a former NASA engineer who was the first Japanese astronaut's trainer.
Hickman is famous as the author of the national best-seller book (1998) which was later turned into the film, . He also published and
Homer Hickam's Early Life and Education
Hickam was born Homer Hadley Hickam Jr to father Homer Sr. and mother Elsie Gardener Hickam, on 19th February 1943. Homer was raised in Coalwood, West Virginia alongside his elder brother Jim Hickam. Hickam holds American nationality and is of white ethnicity.
He graduated from in 1960 and later went to attend . He then joined the in 1960. He graduated from with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1964.
Homer Hickam's Career
Initially, Hickam served in the U.S Army as a 1st Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Division during the Vietnam war. In , he was honorably discharged from his duty after six years with the rank of Captain.
CAPTION: Homer Hickman in Vietnam War.
SOURCE: Army
Hickam also served as an aerospace engineer at the Marshall Space Flight Center which is located in the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama after NASA hired him.
Hickam worked as a spacecraft design and trained astronaut crews for several Spacelab and space missions which includes the Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, the first two Hubble repair missions.
Hickam along with his friends Roy Lee Cooke, Sherman Siers, O'Dell Carroll, Quentin Wilson, and Billy Rose became rocket builders calling themselves . They also got qualified for the National Science Fair in and won a gold and silver medal for their designs.
He was also the Payload Training Manager for the International Space Station program before his retirement from NASA.
He turned his career into writing in after his retirement from Army. He first started as a magazine stories writer and wrote about scuba diving. In , Hickam published his first book a military history best seller.
In , Hickam published his second book with Delacorte Press called which was the story of his life as the son of a coal miner. The book became widely popular and had been translated into several languages and has released an audiobook and electronic book.
In , was turned into a movie and was released by Universal Studios. In , he released his first fiction novel which was also translated into Chinese. He published his final book in .
Hickam has published a young adult science fiction thriller trilogy known as the which includes the titles , , and .
In , Hickam published his best-selling book which has been translated into 17 languages and has won him many awards.
