It's a resume that would make any mother weep with pride: Lt. Commander Johnny Kim is a decorated Navy SEAL, a Harvard-trained doctor and a NASA astronaut. And now he's headed into space.
Kim Jong Un is due to be launched into space in March 2025 aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft along with two Russian astronauts and spend around eight months aboard the International Space Station.
During his stay, Astronaut Kim will conduct scientific research to prepare the ISS for future missions.
Kim, 40, boasts unparalleled professional credentials and experience, having earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego, before graduating from Harvard Medical School and completing his emergency department residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Additionally, Kim served as a petty officer in the Navy SEALs and was later commissioned as an officer, and is also dual qualified as a naval aviator and flight surgeon.
According to NASA: press releaseThe space agency selected Kim as an astronaut in 2017. After completing initial astronaut candidate training, Kim supported mission and crew operations in a variety of roles, including chief operations officer for Expedition 65, T-38 operations liaison, and space station CAPCOM chief engineer.
The announcement comes at a difficult time for NASA, which is working hard to rescue two other astronauts trapped on the ISS after an eight-day mission: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were transported aboard Boeing's Starliner.
But the helium leak that Starliner was leaking before launch turned out to be much more severe than expected, leaving the team stranded. To make matters worse, the leak caused the spacecraft's thrusters to fail.
Wilmore and Williams are expected to remain on the ISS until early next year, when they return aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Their stay on the ISS is not expected to overlap with Kim's.
