Father > Hero

I finished reading Rocket Boys this morning. While he never got to meet his hero, Wernher von Braun, his hero at one point had been by his exhibit at the national science fair and had picked up and appreciated his rocket parts.

Hickam realized that the person most important to him at his last amateur rocket launch was his father. He never got the fatherly encouragement he wanted, but then decided to give encouragement to his father instead. I found it to be a very powerful ending.