Rocket Boys: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

It’s January 31, 1958, and Wernher von Braun is launching the Explorer-1 satellite. The launch is a great success—a fact that invigorates Homer, but leaves Homer Sr. unimpressed. Homer’s friends come by, and Homer takes the opportunity to talk to Roy Lee about Homer Sr.’s lungs. (Roy Lee’s brother, Billy, is medically trained.) Roy Lee is unsure how to react to this information.

Homer tells his friends that he’s forming a rocket club, the Big Creek Missile Agency, or BCMA. To his surprise, his friends want to join the BCMA, even though Quentin is a part of it. Homer announces himself the president, and Quentin the scientist. Roy Lee covers transportation, O’Dell is treasurer, and Sherman handles publicity and sets up the rocket range.

Quentin and Homer go to the McDowell County Library in search of books about rockets, but they don’t find anything useful. At school, Quentin notices a display case, and mentions that one day they may have a trophy in honor of their rockets in that case. Homer explains that every year there’s a county science fair, and after that a state and national fair.

As Quentin and Homer talk, Miss Riley, a teacher, and Mr. Turner, the principal notice them. When Quentin tells Mr. Turner about the BCMA, Turner tries to impress upon Quentin and Homer that their club must not cause any more explosions (he’s heard about the rose-garden fence). Miss Riley is more supportive, suggesting that it would be wonderful if the school focused on things other than football. Because she’s in charge of science fairs, Miss Riley asks Quentin and Homer to stop by her classroom.

As they walk away from Mr. Turner and Miss Riley, Homer and Quentin argue about the science fair. Homer is reluctant to join a stereotypically “nerdy” activity, but Quentin is more optimistic—he argues that winning this competition is the ideal way to “get on down” to Wernher von Braun. Homer points out that he and Quentin would be competing against Welch High School—a rigorous, academically excellent school.

Homer leaves Quentin to go to his class. Inside, Emily Sue asks Homer about Dorothy. Homer notes that he thinks of Emily Sue as a “forever friend”—someone he can be totally open and honest with. Emily Sue informs Homer that Dorothy likes him, but isn’t romantically interested. Emily Sue explains that Homer is nice and likeable, but not attractive to girls. Jim, by contrast, is attractive and well-dressed, but he has no real friends. Homer is hurt by this news, and he tries to think of ways to make Dorothy love him.

For the next few weeks, Quentin and Homer research more rocket fuels. Quentin proposes using a combustible glue to make the fuel burn more evenly. Homer succeeds in getting combustible glue from the Big Store—to this day, he notes, he has no idea why the Store sold it. At the store, Junior brings up Cape Canaveral, the area where Wernher von Braun researches rockets. Junior, who is black, mentions that the beaches are segregated in Florida. Homer is surprised to hear this, even though he knows that blacks have their own separate schools in Coalwood.

Back at home, Homer mixes the right proportions of saltpeter and charcoal with powdered glue, creating a thick, pasty substance. Quentin is impressed with this fuel. Together, he and Homer plan to weld a nozzle to the bottom of their rocket. Homer decides to approach Mr. Isaac Bykovski about this. He is the father of Esther, a former classmate of Homer’s who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Homer remembers Mr. Bykovski being friendly and likable.

Homer goes to Mr. Bykovski’s house. There, he tells Bykovski that he wants help building a rocket by welding a washer to a metal tube. Bykovski suggests soldering instead of welding, and Homer agrees, though he has no idea what soldering is. Bykovski decides to teach Homer, and he shows him how to melt solder—soft, coiled metal—and shape it properly. Afterwards, he promises Homer he’ll finish the soldering work for the rocket tomorrow. The next night, Homer meets Mr. Bykovski again, and finds a soldered tube with a wooden cone at its head. Homer finds his rocket beautiful, and he decides to name it “Auk I,” after the extinct, flightless bird. He chooses this obscure name to prove that he’s intelligent, and that he is learning something from his research.

Homer becomes annoyed with Quentin because Quentin has been unable to find the right books about rocket flight. O’Dell impatiently asks to launch the rocket, and the group agrees to do so, despite Quentin’s protests. They launch the rocket near the edges of the mine, and find that it lifts about six feet into the air and then falls to the earth. Quentin explains: the rocket was flying, but the soldering melted.

The next day, Homer brings another tube to Mr. Bykovski, asking him to weld a washer to it. Bykovski obliges, saying that steel will be better than aluminum. Over the next three weeks, Homer makes three more rockets: Auk II, III and IV. Accompanied by his friends, Sherman lights the fuse for Auk II and the group watches the rocket’s progress. Auk II flies ten feet into the air, then turns and shoots toward a tree. Quentin points out that the rocket needs a better guidance system.

In response to Quentin’s point, O’Dell insists that the group should launch Auk III and IV immediately. He lights the fuse on Auk IV, and watches as the rocket flies toward the mine, eventually hitting Homer Sr.’s office. Homer Sr. rushes out of his office toward Homer. He yells at Homer for continuing to research rockets, insisting that the rocket could have killed someone. He then notices that the rocket is made from company property—metal and casing. He accuses Homer—and the company worker who helped him—of being a thief.