"Doctor-Turned-Astronaut"… NASA Korean-American Johnny Kim to Visit Space Station Next Year

Johnny Kim (40), a Korean-American astronaut at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will carry out a mission on the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time next year, NASA announced on the 29th (local time).

Korean-American NASA astronaut Johnny Kim. (Photo by NASA)

Kim will stay on the ISS for a total of eight months and conduct various scientific experiments in the orbital laboratory. Born in LA, Kim was the only Korean-American selected from 18,000 applicants in 2017. A native of Los Angeles, California, Kim graduated from Santa Monica High School in California, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy SEALs, where he completed over 100 combat missions. He was awarded the Silver Star for his distinguished service.

After earning a master's degree in mathematics from the University of San Diego, Kim became a Navy ROTC officer and later earned a medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School. He worked as a resident at Massachusetts General Hospital’s emergency room and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston before applying to and being selected for NASA’s astronaut program.

Kim attracted attention as a candidate astronaut for the Artemis Project 2, the U.S.-led international manned lunar exploration mission orbiting the moon for the first time in about half a century, but unfortunately did not make the final roster in April last year.