* John Hickam has a proxy-PapaWolf moment when he sees Roy Lee being beaten by his stepfather, [[AbusiveParents the resident abusive alcoholic]]. He does the whole grab-you-by-the-collar thing without the punch-you-in-the-face part, all the while plagued by soot-filled lungs:
-->'''John:''' Now you listen to me, you ''drunken'' son of a bitch! If that boy's father was alive, he'd kick your ass. So I'm gonna have to do it for him. If I see him with a bruise... you get a scar. If I see him with a limp... you get '''crutches'''! Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!\\
'''Vernon:''' I'm reportin' you to the union!\\
'''John:''' [[ShutUpHannibal Screw you and your damn union!]]
* There's a collective moment of awesome when Homer's exhibit is sabotaged at the National Science Fair. One of the machinists at the mine, Mr. Bolton, sneaks over to Homer's house and lets Elsie know of her son's predicament. Elsie then marches right through the striking miners and has an epic moment when she [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech rips John a new one for not supporting Homer]] when Homer has gotten a lot of help from many of John's fellow miners, and with the union on strike, there is no way for the machinists to make Homer the replacements he needs for the Fair.
-->'''Elsie:''' Homer once said you love the mine more than your own family. I stood up for you because I didn't want to believe it. Homer has gotten a lot of help from the people in this town. They've helped him build his rockets. They've gone out there and watched him fly 'em. [[WhatTheHellHero But not you, John. You never showed up, not even once. I'm not asking you to believe in it, but he's your son, for God's sake, John!]] And I am asking you to help him. If you don't, I'll leave you. I'll find work. I'll do whatever it takes to get away from here. I'll live in a tree to get away from you. Don't you think I won't.\\
'''John:''' Where would you go?\\
'''Elsie:''' ({{beat}}) Myrtle Beach.
** It works, as John strikes a deal with the union, and his first words to Mr. Bolton are, "Don't you have some work to do?"
*** Finally, when Elsie lets Homer know that the replacement is on its way, the town loudly cheers him over the phone.
* Really, The Rocket Boys journey throughout the film is inspiring. They all had accepted their future working in the mines like their fathers before them, but Homer's aspiration rubbed off on them to dare to dream bigger than that. Despite the many testing and hardships, they all equally put in the effort to succeed for the group. This determination earned them the respect of not only their school, but the whole town as well, as nearly everyone who could showed up to celebrate their final rocket, as the boys get set to go to college.