Anthony Jaswinski

Rocketship Nation Anthony Jaswinski

January, 1986. In the aftermath of the devastating Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, an entire nation is in shock. Thirty miles south of Cape Canaveral and the mourning Kennedy Space Center lies the sleepy town of Nation Beach, Florida. A world unto itself; where life is slow and difficult. Where long, cold banks of waves roll onto the brown shoreline and abandoned piers stand like silent guards to the distant rocket launchers clinging to the horizon.

It is here that three young men, affected by the difficult variables of life, hatch a plan to rob a convenience store in the hopes of solving their respective problems and fading dreams. In the course of one extraordinary day, their lives become inextricably linked with one of the saddest days in our nation's history. Rocketship Nation provides an intimate but devastating glimpse into a history all too recent; it is the epitaph of the American Dream gone awry.