When Does "Rocket Boys" (1998) Take Place?
"Rocket Boys: A Memoir" (later released as "October Sky") is a historical fiction coming-of-age novel (the introduction makes it clear the creator has "taken certain liberties in the telling of the story") written by Homer Hickam Jr. that released September 15th, 1998. So when is "Rocket Boys" set?
It takes place in the years:
We know this because at the start of the second chapter, Homer H. "Sonny" Hickam, Jr. is awoken by his mother to listen to a radio news report that Homer's narration describes like this, ..."instead of rock and roll, what I heard on the radio was a steady beep-beep-beep sound. Then the announcer said the tone was coming from something called Sputnik. It was Russian and it was in space." The Russian man-made satellite Sputnik I launched in the real world on October 4th, 1957 AD but was not noticed by Americans until October 6th, 1957 AD. So it is early October of 1957 AD.
1957 AD - 1960 AD
We know this because at the start of the second chapter, Homer H. "Sonny" Hickam, Jr. is awoken by his mother to listen to a radio news report that Homer's narration describes like this, ..."instead of rock and roll, what I heard on the radio was a steady beep-beep-beep sound. Then the announcer said the tone was coming from something called Sputnik. It was Russian and it was in space." The Russian man-made satellite Sputnik I launched in the real world on October 4th, 1957 AD but was not noticed by Americans until October 6th, 1957 AD. So it is early October of 1957 AD.
Then, a small article appears in the local newspaper (shown to the reader) that ends "The McDowell County Banner, August 1958". So it's almost certainly August of 1958 AD now.
Eventually, another notice appears and the excerpt ends "The McDowell County Banner, October 1959". So it's probably October of 1959 AD at this point.
Later, at the end of the story a National Science Fair medal is described and it reads: "Big Creek High School War, West Virginia Gold and Silver Award 1960". So presumably it is during or after 1960 AD by the conclusion.
More specifically, a final notice is written up in the local newspaper "Between the ads for whole chickens and fresh milk in his paper, Basil did us proud: It is a moment that may well go down in McDowell County History. On June 4, 1960, the Big Creek Missile Agency"... So it is early June of 1960 AD in the end.
Furthermore, very early on Homer/Sonny narrates to us that "In 1957, when I was fourteen years old"...
About halfway through the novel, Homer narrates to us that "Christmas 1958 wasn't a white one, but it was bitterly cold"... So it is certainly December of 1958 AD at this point. Chapter thirteen then opens with the words, "One night in January, it started to snow," so it supposed to be January of 1959 AD at this point.
Later, the final date in his narration is in this passage: "Graduation night finally came, and the Big Creek High School class of 1960 walked proudly down the aisle"...
It was adapted to film in 1999 as "October Sky", as a stage-musical in 2005 as "Rocket Boys", and as a second stage-musical in 2015 titled "October Sky".
