The Rocket Boys are once again launching a festival in West Virginia — and another rocket

By Autumn Shelton, RealWV

PIPESTEM, W.Va. – It all began one October night in 1957 when a group of boys growing up in the small mining town of Coalwood looked to the sky and caught a glimpse of the Soviet Union’s recently launched satellite, Sputnik 1. 

Now, 68 years later, Roy Lee Cooke and Homer Hickam, two original members of the Big Creek Missile Agency made famous in the best selling memoir “Rocket Boys” and in the 1999 movie “October Sky,” will kick-off the first Rocket Fest at Pipestem Resort State Park on Oct. 17.

During the event, the duo will take questions from high school students in the Faulconer Room of McKeever Lodge at Pipestem from 9:30-11:30 am, according to a state parks press release. Then, at 2 pm, they will once again take questions from community members and homeschool students. 

At 5 pm, Hickam and Cooke will, hopefully, not get into too much trouble when they launch a rocket from the Pipestem Championship Golf Course as visitors watch from the patio of Mulligans restaurant. However, not getting into trouble wasn’t always the case for Hickam, Cooke and the other members of the Big Creek Missile Agency – Jimmy Carroll, Quentin Wilson, Sherman Siers and Billy Rose. 

As Hickam wrote in “Rocket Boys,” after seeing Sputnik 1, he knew it was time to look to the skies instead of underground to find his calling. 

“That night, in my room, I kept thinking about Sputnik until I couldn’t think about it anymore and fell asleep, waking in the night to hear the men miners scuffling their boots and talking low as they went up the path to the tipple,” Hickam wrote. “They weren’t explorers on the moon, just Coalwood miners going to work. And I wasn’t on [Wernher] von Braun’s team. I was a boy in Coalwood, West Virginia. All of a sudden, that wasn’t good enough.” 

With help from parents, teachers and community members, Hickam and the other Rocket Boys were able to launch successful rockets from their base at Cape Coalwood, but they first had to destroy a fence at Hickam’s house, experience numerous explosions and failed launches, learn how to make rocket fuel, develop thermal protections for rocket casings, and be accused of starting a forest fire. Despite these initial setbacks, the boys were all able to use their rocket building knowledge to achieve their dreams of attending college and going on to have successful careers. 

As a result of their success, the Rocket Boys have held numerous events in West Virginia over the years, sharing stories about their lives to help inspire future generations and to champion teachers. 

In 1999, the Big Creek Missile Agency began an annual tradition with the Coalwood Rocket Boys Festival, held in their McDowell County hometown. In 2012, the festival moved to the grounds of the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine in Raleigh County, but the remaining members of the original Rocket Boys decided to end the festival in 2019 after two decades of success. 

During the Covid pandemic in 2020, Hickam held a final Rocket Boys Festival online. 

Now, five years later, West Virginians will have another chance to see a couple of Rocket Boys in action, and once again hear the message that it doesn’t matter if you grow up in a small town between two mountains. Everyone can reach the skies.  

In addition to the question and answer sessions and the rocket launch, Fat Bottom Coolers, Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company (GVBC) and the Pipestem Foundation will be showcasing the newly released GVBC beverage, Oktober Sky Oktoberfest 2025, which is a classic German Märzen style beer. 

There will also be a Coalwood Way buffet and live music from 6-8 pm. 

For more information, visit wvstateparks.com.

Feature image: The Rocket Boys, acquired from the Facebook page of Homer Hickam.