GRAND FORKS – A NASA astronaut and the first North Dakotan in space received the state’s highest civilian honor at a Tuesday press event at UND.

Jim Buchli has “literally gone further and flown higher than any North Dakotan in history,” said Gov. Doug Burgum as he awarded Buchli the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.

The Rough Rider award, first presented in 1961, honors North Dakotans who have received national recognition for their achievements, and have included authors, businessmen and Secret Service agents.

A portrait of Buchli, the award’s 49th recipient, will hang beside other Rough Riders in the State Capitol.

Local and state elected officials, UND administrators and faculty and Buchli’s family and friends were on hand to honor him at Robin Hall, home of the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

Buchli, a New Rockford, North Dakota native, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1967 and served a tour in Vietnam as a Marine infantry officer before enrolling in naval flight officer training.

In 1978, he was selected as one of the 35 members of Astronaut Group 8, the first new crop since the Apollo program more than a decade before.

He went on to fly four Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1991, including the penultimate flight of the Challenger shuttle. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2019.

Buchli became friends and fishing buddies with John Odegard and helped to support the establishment of the Space Studies program in the 1980s. Among those who endorsed Buchli for the Rough Rider award was Space Studies department chair Pablo de Leon.

Former Aerospace dean Bruce Smith borrowed a line from an endorsement letter from UND Aerospace Foundation chair Larry Martin in making the case for Buchli’s candidacy: “He’s an astronaut, for crying out loud.”

Burgum, himself a former Rough Rider award recipient, focused on Buchli’s ascent from a small town kid in a Class B athletics program to an elite class of modern-day explorers.

“He’s come back here and helped inspire generations of kids, and with his support, generations of students at UND will have the tools and inspiration and understanding of our universe to aspire to do this,” Burgum said.

Buchli thanked his wife and family for their support, and credited his North Dakota upbringing to his success as a pilot and astronaut.

“North Dakota is a unique place, and all of us that have come from here have benefited greatly,” he said. “Our teachers, adult leaders, coaches and all the friends were inspirational and extremely good role models.”

He similarly expressed confidence in the nation’s youth, noting the college students he’d met were “a lot smarter than we ever were.”

After his portrait was unveiled, Buchli presented Burgum with a state flag that had flown with him on his first spaceflight in 1985, which the governor accepted on behalf of the state.

Burgum, tongue in cheek, gave Buchli a flag that had flown over the State Capitol on Monday as a replacement.

Joshua Irvine covers K-12 and higher education as well as the Grand Forks County Commission for the Grand Forks Herald. He joined the Herald in October 2023.