First North Dakotan in Space honored with Rough Rider Award
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) – The Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award has been given out to 48 of the most prominent North Dakotans since it was first awarded in 1961. And now they have a 49th member, Astronaut James Buchli.
“He was truly an inspiration. He would relate very well to the students, and he would encourage them to look at careers within the Space Program.”
Smith says that getting letters of support for Buchli wasn’t difficult. All he had to do was send out a few emails.
“I’ve been walking on air ever since I found out. I can’t even imagine what it feels like for him to be the Rough Rider Award winner.”
James said his love of flying initiated from watching light planes in North Dakota, as well as planes taking off at the Fargo Airport.
“During a summer we had at the Naval Academy down in aviation training in Pensacola Florida then I got the bug. That was what I wanted to do.”
And once Buchli got to space, he said it didn’t take him long to adjust.
“It’s quite enjoyable. Sleeping at night is very comfortable. In a sleeping bag pinned to the wall, just float in space inside your bag, it’s very comfortable.”
When he arrived in the space program, Buchli was able to learn from some of the astronauts who had worked on the Apollo missions.
And over the years, he’s been able to spread that knowledge to future generations, inspiring future astronauts to reach for the stars.
“I gave a talk in Tokyo and about ten years later, a little Japanese lady came up to me, Chiaki (Mukai) came up and said, “I’m now in the Japanese Space Program because of the speech you gave in Tokyo.” You go, who knew. You never know what’s going to happen when you talk to kids to inspire them.”
All the while, he’s shared his values that came from his North Dakota upbringing.
“Hard work, dedication to the task, positive thinking, don’t limit yourself. All those things are things that work globally, and those are things that clearly folks from North Dakota have a corner on.”
