In a 1999 film directed by Joe Johnston, Jake Gyllenhaal played a NASA engineer that was inspired by the launch of what satellite?
Jake Gyllenhaal filmography Jake Gyllenhaal is an American actor who has appeared in over 35 motion pictures (including some yet to be released), three television programs, one commercial, and four music videos. He made his film debut in 1991 with a minor role in the comedy-drama "City Slickers". In 1993, he appeared in "A Dangerous Woman", a motion picture adaptation directed by Gyllenhaal's father Stephen Gyllenhaal and co-written by his mother Naomi Foner that was based on the novel of the same name by Mary McGarry Morris. In the following year, he portrayed Robin Williams' son in an episode of the police procedural television series ""; the episode was directed by his father. In 1999, Gyllenhaal starred in the Joe Johnston-directed drama "October Sky"; the film was received warmly by critics, and Gyllenhaal's portrayal of the NASA engineer Homer Hickam was praised.
Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other products, the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the "Galileo" spacecraft, and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.