Just Got Done Watching October Sky

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RocketNerd

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Love this movie. Although it gets me choked up everytime!

If you haven't seen this movie i highly suggest you watch it, especially if your a true rocket nerd!
 
"October Sky" is pretty much the patron-saint movie for hobby rocketry, although you gotta watch it with a few of grains of salt:

1. Be sure and tell any younger kids watching the movie with you, "this is why we have model rocketry, so we don't have to blow up 50 steel-pipe rockets in a row building our own motors," and,

2. Point out in real life, if you blew up 50 steel-pipe rockets in a row as they did in the movie, it would be an absolute miracle if somebody didn't catch a piece of shrapnel in the head.

3. Point out that in real life, if you were firing off steel-pipe rockets 2-3 feet long, weighing 10-some pounds each, to go 2-3,000 feet high, then auger straight in with no recovery system, their little tin-shack "bunker" -- or even being inside a car -- would be no more protection than a paper plate if it decided to come down on your head. If you were sitting inside a car and that MFker came down on you, it would probably go straight through the car roof, straight through you, and straight through the car floor before drilling a couple feet deep in the ground.

So, all that said, I still love the movie. :wink:
 
Get the DVD and watch in "Director's commentary" mode for much insight from Homer Hickam.
 
I watched the final scene of the movie, nothing else. To be honest it was a little bit boring.
 
JStarStar said:
"October Sky" is pretty much the patron-saint movie for hobby rocketry, although you gotta watch it with a few of grains of salt:

1. Be sure and tell any younger kids watching the movie with you, "this is why we have model rocketry, so we don't have to blow up 50 steel-pipe rockets in a row building our own motors," and,

2. Point out in real life, if you blew up 50 steel-pipe rockets in a row as they did in the movie, it would be an absolute miracle if somebody didn't catch a piece of shrapnel in the head.

3. Point out that in real life, if you were firing off steel-pipe rockets 2-3 feet long, weighing 10-some pounds each, to go 2-3,000 feet high, then auger straight in with no recovery system, their little tin-shack "bunker" -- or even being inside a car -- would be no more protection than a paper plate if it decided to come down on your head. If you were sitting inside a car and that MFker came down on you, it would probably go straight through the car roof, straight through you, and straight through the car floor before drilling a couple feet deep in the ground.

So, all that said, I still love the movie. :wink:
Click to expand...

October Sky is a real classic, but I kind of agree with your point. It makes me cringe when they use steel pipes and these experimental propellants, it may just be because we're jealous.
 
The ending rocket launch was pretty cheesy... The rocket wasn't big enough to climb that slowly, and even the space shuttle doesn't flying that straight. The motor kept burning for a minute, which is impossible to do with a rocket of that size.
 
Tangentially: I've been reading Rocket Manual for Amateurs, which was published by the U.S. Army in 1960, with the specific intent that "people are going to build and fly rockets anyway, let's get them some useful information and try to minimize the number of explosively-amputated digits".

Interestingly, all of the rockets discussed in that book are fueled for their entire length (3-4 feet), have no recovery system, and are built almost entirely of metal ...

Edit: Properly italicized the book's title.
 
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YodaMcFly said:
Tangentially: I've been reading Rocket Manual for Amateurs, which was published by the U.S. Army in 1960, with the specific intent that "people are going to build and fly rockets anyway, let's get them some useful information and try to minimize the number of explosively-amputated digits".

Interestingly, all of the rockets discussed in that book are fueled for their entire length (3-4 feet), have no recovery system, and are built almost entirely of metal ...
Click to expand...

And are zinc/sulfur. The largest diameter with the vibrated/packed dry mix is 3 inches. They are end-burners and, boy, does it burn fast. Some research was made into casting the zinc/sulfur with acetone casting it with a core. Casting slowed the burn rate down enough where this could be done.

That's where I run into a problem with the way they make their fuel in October Sky. Rocket Candy doesn't need a solvent. Mixing the sugar/nitrate with alcohol would give you a slurry or paste you could cold cast and wait for the alcohol to evaporate. Mix up some powdered sugar, ball milled stump rotter and some moonshine and head to a Tripoli research launch :)
 
dave carver said:
And are zinc/sulfur. The largest diameter with the vibrated/packed dry mix is 3 inches. They are end-burners and, boy, does it burn fast. Some research was made into casting the zinc/sulfur with acetone casting it with a core. Casting slowed the burn rate down enough where this could be done.

That's where I run into a problem with the way they make their fuel in October Sky. Rocket Candy doesn't need a solvent. Mixing the sugar/nitrate with alcohol would give you a slurry or paste you could cold cast and wait for the alcohol to evaporate. Mix up some powdered sugar, ball milled stump rotter and some moonshine and head to a Tripoli research launch :)
Click to expand...

Extra moonshine for good measure.
 
I highly recommend the entire Coalwood series of books. I just finished (last night) Sky of Stone. I found them to be remarkable on many fronts, and Hickam has become one of my favorite authors (he's up against Stephen King and Frederik Pohl). I can't pick a favorite of the series; they were each great for different reasons. Go get reading!
 
JStarStar said:
"October Sky" is pretty much the patron-saint movie for hobby rocketry, although you gotta watch it with a few of grains of salt:

1. Be sure and tell any younger kids watching the movie with you, "this is why we have model rocketry, so we don't have to blow up 50 steel-pipe rockets in a row building our own motors," and,

2. Point out in real life, if you blew up 50 steel-pipe rockets in a row as they did in the movie, it would be an absolute miracle if somebody didn't catch a piece of shrapnel in the head.

3. Point out that in real life, if you were firing off steel-pipe rockets 2-3 feet long, weighing 10-some pounds each, to go 2-3,000 feet high, then auger straight in with no recovery system, their little tin-shack "bunker" -- or even being inside a car -- would be no more protection than a paper plate if it decided to come down on your head. If you were sitting inside a car and that MFker came down on you, it would probably go straight through the car roof, straight through you, and straight through the car floor before drilling a couple feet deep in the ground.

So, all that said, I still love the movie. :wink:
Click to expand...

I like it, too, but I always ask folks when I'm giving an introductory model rocketry presentation if they've seen it and tell them "the reason model rocketry exists is to provide a way to fly rockets without building those FLYING PIPE BOMBS!" This is usually in my section that includes the Orville Carlisle/G. Harry Stine story in thumbnail form.....
 
Deviation from 100% accuracy is called "artistic license". Just enjoy the film for what it is. Otherwise, people will call you the N-word...Nerd! :wink:
 
Quote Originally Posted by dave carver View Post
And are zinc/sulfur. The largest diameter with the vibrated/packed dry mix is 3 inches. They are end-burners and, boy, does it burn fast. Some research was made into casting the zinc/sulfur with acetone casting it with a core. Casting slowed the burn rate down enough where this could be done.

That's where I run into a problem with the way they make their fuel in October Sky. Rocket Candy doesn't need a solvent. Mixing the sugar/nitrate with alcohol would give you a slurry or paste you could cold cast and wait for the alcohol to evaporate. Mix up some powdered sugar, ball milled stump rotter and some moonshine and head to a Tripoli research launch
Extra moonshine for good measure.
Click to expand...

I assumed that the rocket boys were alluding to using the ethyl alcohol in the moonshine to do cold casting with zinc/sulfur in the same manner as acetone. The movie doesn't really state what the moonshine is intended to be used for. Back in those days I tried zinc/sulfur with either alcohol or acetone. Either one worked about the same. The alcohol or acetone would evaporate and a dry grain was left that had a density equal to or better than tamping. In reality I found the grains to be very crumbly and fragile. The burn rate of tamped zinc/sulfur is reported in Brinkley's book to be 90 in/sec, which is incredibly fast, hence, the use as an end burner. The cold-casted zinc/sulfur was reported to be on the order of a few tenths of inch per second. Back in those days zinc dust was incredibly cheap and made the propellant attractive despite its poor performance (specific impulse on the order of black powder).
 
YodaMcFly said:
+1, and extending on this: read Rocket Boys. He goes into much more detail (obviously).

Fun fact: "October Sky" is an anagram for "Rocket Boys". v :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up!
I'll totally read the book of that!
I only saw the movie once, and I was not thinking about getting back into rockets at the time.
 
TRFfan said:
I watched the final scene of the movie, nothing else. To be honest it was a little bit boring.
Click to expand...

Well, the big payoff scene of the movie is a trophy presentation ceremony, so it does lose a bit of the oomph factor. Another big scene is a guy doing a trig equation on a blackboard.

It's not an action movie, although it does have a couple good launch scenes.

It's really more of a slow-building character study type of thing. I was born in 1958 so I don't directly remember the late Fifties Sputnik days myself, but the movie does evoke the atmosphere of those days, as well as living in WV mine country.

My favorite scene in the whole movie is when Elsie marches in to deliver her big "help Homer or else" ultimatum to John. He tosses the ball back in her court: "Where would you go?", kind of half-expecting she'll have no answer, but she does: "Myrtle Beach."

She turns and marches out. Then you see a little hint of a smile curl his lips. And you know why he married that girl.
 
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I think some of the "artistic license" in the movie WRT the mixing of the fuel was simply that. Also, you could make the argument that by being deliberately wrong on how the fuel was made reduces the filmmakers' potential liability in case some hometown "rocket surgeon" decides to do what he saw on the silver screen, and burns down his mom's basement.
 

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