It was the late '60s. The space race
with the Russians was on, and we were losing. Since I was in
Huntsville, we lived with the sound of Saturn rocket test firings and
the ardent desire to get to the moon before the Russians did. My plan
was to become an Air Force test pilot, fly the X-15,
and then become an astronaut.
I knew you didn't just become an
astronaut without going to school, so I picked up rocketry as a hobby
while I finished first grade. My parents gave me an awesome water
rocket, and I learned how to fly It. I'd fill it about halfway with
water, then attach it to the air pump. I'd pump and pump until it
was ready to go. When I released the rocket, it would fly higher than
the house! I was a real rocket engineer and astronaut all rolled into
one. I was Alan
Shepard. I was John Glenn. I was Wernher
von Braun.
Everyone should learn the principles
of rockets. I just learned them a little earlier than some do. One
day Dad came home from work during the day, and before he went back
to work he said he'd shoot off the cherry bomb that we'd had in a
drawer for awhile. I thought this was great news - no one has ever
said “cherry bomb” without getting me excited. He got an empty
coffee can and the cherry bomb, and took them out to the front yard.
He put the cherry bomb under the coffee can and lit the fuze. Boom!
The coffee can sailed even higher than the water rocket!
Was there ever any doubt I'd become
a missile engineer?
Jack
“Homer Hickam”
Parker
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