South Dakota News Watch fact brief: Have any South Dakota natives been into space? Yes.
Two people who were born in South Dakota have spent some time in space and are among 800 astronauts.
Charles “Sam” Gemar was the first person from the state to see space. Gemar was born in Yankton and grew up in Scotland, becoming an astronaut in 1986. He has spent 580 hours in space across three missions from 1990-94.
“I always knew what I wanted to do,” Gemar said during a visit to Dakota State University in Madison in February. “I wanted to be an astronaut. I just never shared that because who’s going to believe that? You’re from South Dakota.”
Michael Fossum was born in Sioux Falls and grew up in McAllen, Texas. He was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and was on three space flights from 2006-2011, spending more than 194 days in space with seven spacewalks.
This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.
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