Despite being ridiculed by everyone including his coal miner father John Hickam (Chris Cooper), Homer is encouraged by his science teacher Freida J. Riley (Laura Dern).
It’s one of the most charming roles in Dern’s career and served as a nice way of bringing one of the biggest decades of her career to a close.
Throughout the movie, Dern’s character stands up for the aspiring rocket scientist and provides the motivation that he and his friends need to pull off the impossible.