Guest: Homer Hickam was the guest for this special Space Show program. Mr. Hickam, author of "Rocket Boys," which was made into the acclaimed movie "October Sky," spoke with us about many topics and all of us had lots of fun while learning from someone who is, in my opinion, a true American hero. We started the discussion by asking him about his discovering two Tyrannosaurs in Montana. This took us directly to his early rocket launching days in Montana and putting Barbie dolls into space or near space. You have to hear this discussion to believe it. Barbie possibly should have be designated a spaceflight participant or something close to it , maybe even a skydiver since Barbie came back to Earth in a parachute. By the way, no even-handedness here as Ken was never launched on a Homer Hickam rocket. Leaving Barbie, we got down to serious rocket launching history with Homer in his days growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia. We talked about the different conditions then and now. Listeners asked him questions about school programs, how to inspire the youth, and much more. Homer was quick to point out that, while the conditions that he experienced as a kid do not exist anymore, there are lots of rocket clubs around the country for kids and adults to join and use to learn and launch rockets. Visit his website, www.homerhickam.com, as he has a link on the site for the rocket clubs across the country. We discussed the role of the NASA Administrator in the context of Homer taking on the job. Interestingly, he said if he took on the job, he would go to the American people to engage us all much more in space. Barbara from LA emailed in that first, she was not Barbie and was not riding on one of his rockets, and second what Homer was saying reminded her of the days of Von Braun when he did take space to the people. You should hear this exchange, it's terrific! Homer is putting together a Broadway play titled Rocket Boys The Musical and you can find out about it www.rocketboysthemusical.com. We played a few of the cuts (songs) from the play on the show. From rockets to moonshine, you have to listen. It's grand fun and the music is excellent. Pick up all the cuts at www.rocketboysthemusical.com/audio as we only had time to play parts of two of the play's songs. During another part of the discussion, I asked Homer about dreams and fantasies. He had much to say on this so again, you will want to hear this show. For example, he says he does not talk to students and parents about dreams. Instead, he uses the 3 P's: Passion, Planning, and Perseverance. Homer also introduced us to a special guest, Max the Cat. This is the first time a cat has spoken on The Space Show! If you want to see when Homer Hickham might be speaking in your area or on a book tour, check out his website. You can also email him from his site at H3Hickam@homerhickam.com. The contact page on his website is http://www.homerhickam.com/contact.shtml. Please put The Space Show in the subject line. 2008/6/17 David Livingston : GuestSearch: Homer Hickam, Rocket Boys, Barbie, Ken, Montana, T-Rex, West Virginia, inspiration, engineering, Rocketboysthemusical, passion, planning, perseverance, NASA Administrator, education, the Moon, China, Marshall Spaceflight Center, Payload Specialist, NASA, training. Guest: Homer Hickam was the guest for this special Space Show program. Mr. Hickam, author of "Rocket Boys" which was made into the acclaimed movie, "October Sky," spoke with us about many topics and all of us had lots of fun while learning from a true American hero in my opinion. We started the discussion by my asking him about his discovering two Tyrannosaurs in Montana. This took us directly to his rocket launching days in Montana of putting Barbie into space or near space. You have to hear this discussion to believe it. Barbie possibly should have be designated a spaceflight participant or something close to it. By the way, no evenhandedness as Ken was never launched on a Homer Hickam rocket. Leaving Barbie, we got down to serious rocket launching history with Homer in his days growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia. We talked about the conditions then and now - the differences. Listeners asked him questions about school programs, how to inspire the youth and much more. Homer was quick to point out that while the conditions that he experienced as a kid do not exist anymore, there are lots of rocket clubs around the country for kids and adults to join and use to learn and launch rockets. Visit his website, www.homerhickam .com as he has a link on the site for the rocket clubs across the country. We discussed the role of the NASA Administrator in the context of Homer taking on the job. Interestingly, he said if he took on the job, he would go to the American people to engage us all much more in space. Barbara from LA emailed in that first, she was not Barbie and not riding on one of his rockets, but that what Homer was saying reminded her of the days of Von Braun when he did take space to the people. You should hear this exchange, its terrific! Homer is putting together a Broadway play titled Rocket Boys The Musical and you can find out about it www.rocketboysthemusical.com. We played a few of the cuts (songs) from the play on the show. From rockets to moonshine, you have to listen. Its grand fun and the music is excellent. Pick up all the cuts at www.rocketboysthemusical.com/audio as we only had time to play parts of two of the play's songs. During another part of the discussion, I asked Homer about dreams and fantasies. He had much to say on this so again, you will want to hear this show. For example, he says he does not talk to students and parents about dreams. Instead, he uses the 3 P's: Passion, Planning, and Perseverance. If you want to see when Homer Hickham might be speaking in your area or on a book tour, check out his website. You can also email him from his site at H3Hickam@homerhickam.com. The contact page on his website is http://www.homerhickam.com/contact.shtml. Please put The Space Show in the subject line.