MADISON, S.D. — When a space shuttle blasts off, 6.5 million pounds of thrust propel it to the heavens, where it reaches 17,500 miles per hour in just over eight and a half minutes, traveling roughly 5 miles every beat of the heart.

This was one of the many fascinating and somewhat terrifying facts presented by NASA astronaut Charles Gemar during his Feb. 24 presentation for the Lake County National History Club, a dedicated group of high schoolers working with the Lake County Museum. The event was part of the club’s Time Traveler’s Symposium, with its president Grace Blessinger saying Gemar was an ideal guest as he’s the first astronaut to hail from South Dakota.

Raised in Scotland, South Dakota, Gemar has flown on three different space shuttle missions, logging over 580 hours in space during an 11-year career with NASA from 1985-1996. Gemar said that even at 70 years old with decades to reflect, he’s still working to fully appreciate just how special of an opportunity he received.

“I always knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be an astronaut. I just never shared that because who’s going to believe that? You’re from South Dakota,” Gemar said.

Gemar explained that his journey began with his enlistment in the U.S. Army in 1973, which led to him attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and eventually earning the titles of Army officer and pilot. In 1985, he was selected as one of 13 NASA astronaut candidates, though he noted that being named a candidate is simply the first step in a long and intense training period.

This entailed two years of general astronaut training, including mountain and water survival exercises, learning thousands of spacecraft systems and switches along with spending 45 hours per quarter flying the supersonic T-38 jet and more. Gemar noted this demanding routine did its best to simulate the harsh, unforgiving nature of space, yet nothing can truly prepare you for the real thing.

Gemar’s first flight came in November 1990, where he served on the five-man crew of STS-38, which conducted a classified operation for the U.S. Department of Defense. The shuttle made 80 orbits around the Earth in 117 hours, safely landing back at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center five days after launch.

He noted the day before launch is one of the hardest, as the astronauts are forced to quarantine to limit the possibility of in-flight illness, though they are permitted a final meal with limited family prior to takeoff. This day is often emotionally tense, he added, with the astronauts attempting to mentally prepare for space flight, while the families reckon with the inherent risk of seeing their loved ones shot into space.

“When I flew my first flight, one in 15 astronauts had lost their life in the performance of their duties. Those are pretty tough odds,” Gemar remarked.

Despite the danger, Gemar and the rest of his team strapped themselves in for the trip of a lifetime, pushing away any apprehension that might affect them from achieving their mission.

“Flying in space requires a level of confidence that almost borders on narcissism,” Gemar explained. “You have to believe you can strap 600 million pounds of thrust to your back, go to space, come home safely and get the girl at the end.”

The first time he saw his home planet from the vantage point of space was deeply humbling, Gemar said, adding how the one emotion he wasn’t prepared for was “this overwhelming feeling of insignificance.”

Contributed / NASA s38-s-040

“All of humanity is back there. There’s just the five of you in space,” Gemar stated.

While it may be isolated, life in space is anything but slow, as there were countless maintenance tasks, health precautions and scientific experiments to keep the astronauts occupied. He added that the work and view may be daunting, but it’s also breathtaking. Gemar described the beauty of seeing auroras from space, the awe of recognizing landmarks like the Black Hills, Mississippi River Delta and even the clouds of smoke from active volcanoes.

Gemar flew in two more space shuttle missions in 1991 and 1994, the second of which was the second longest space mission to date. This was STS-62, where on this mission alone, 60 experiments or investigations were conducted across a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines, including materials science, human physiology, biotechnology, protein crystal growth, robotics, structural dynamics, atmospheric ozone monitoring and more.

Gemar and his crew spent 13 days, 23 hours and 16 minutes in space throughout the mission, orbiting the Earth 224 times and traveling a collective distance of 5.8 million miles.

Following his presentation, Gemar answered some general questions about space travel before offering some advice to students on the importance of following your goals and working with others to make them a reality.

“Nobody does this on their own. If there’s something you want to do, let somebody know,” Gemar said, adding that people often talk themselves out of opportunities and are too prepared to take no for an answer.

Gemar’s message on the importance of community is shared in the mission of the Lake County History Club, which attempts to inspire students to rally together in their love of history.

Contributed / NASA 9802877

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“We just grew this group of great kids who were really interested in history,” club president Grace Blessinger, who founded the group three years ago, remarked.

Blessinger and vice president JayLynn Mackert said the club’s guest speakers have been incredible thus far, as prior to Gemar, the group hosted Holocaust survivor Ben Lesser last year in another well-attended event. The duo thanked their sponsors and the Lake County Museum for their continued success, with Mackert noting that it gives community members a chance for experiences they may never have otherwise.

“I think it provides a lot of sort of firsthand understand of things that you don’t get from textbooks because, you know, you can read about wars all you want, but hearing from a Holocaust survivor is really different,” Blessinger noted.

“We definitely wouldn’t be able to do it without the community,” Mackert added. “No one’s forced to be here, so when we walk into a room full of 150 people, we know that everyone around us wants to be there.”