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This Coalwood (McDowell County) native graduated from Big Creek High School and Virginia Tech, then served in the army during the Vietnam War, earning awards for his service. After the war, he worked as an engineer at NASA until retiring in 1998.
Hickam’s first book, Torpedo Junction (1989), was about World War II submarine battles. His most famous book, Rocket Boys (1998), tells of his life growing up in Coalwood. It became a bestseller and inspired the movie October Sky.
He wrote more memoirs about Coalwood and a series of novels about Coast Guard officer Josh Thurlow. Hickam also wrote books about space, a biography of astronaut Anousheh Ansari, and other novels, including some science fiction.
In 2011, a musical based on Rocket Boys premiered near Beckley.
