First Korean-American NASA Astronaut Is Also a Navy SEAL and Harvard Medical Graduate

Wikimedia Commons | NASA/Robert Markowitz

NASA is preparing for the next generation of human space travel with its Artemis program, which according to the agency “will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.”

The Artemis program will also take NASA’s first Korean-American astronaut, Jonny Kim, to space. But this accomplishment is just one of many for the young Korean, whose path leading up to NASA has included graduating from Harvard Medical School and serving in the elite fighting force: the Navy SEALS.

Calling it a “true privilege and honor to walk among the @NASA Astronaut Corps with my brothers and sisters,” on Twitter after being selected for the program, which had over 18,000 applicants, Kim wrote, “we’re the lucky ones to represent humanity. Let’s work towards a better future for our world and our children.”

Jonny Kim, NASA's first Korean-American astronaut and one selected for the Artemis program, which will take humans to the moon by 2024. (©Wikimedia Commons | NASA/Robert Markowitz)

“My parents were South Korean immigrants who came to America in the early 80s for the hope of a better life for their children,” he said in a NASA interview. Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1984, Kim had long dreamed of becoming part of the SEALS.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Santa Monica High School in 2002. He went on to pass the rigorous Underwater Demolition Training and became part of SEAL Team 3. Through the Navy, Kim was able to study mathematics at the University of San Diego—the first of his several degrees.

Kim served in over 100 combat operations in Iraq, according to his NASA profile, fighting as “a combat medic, sniper, navigator and point man.” After his active duty service, Kim went into the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. He later continued his prodigious education by study for a medical degree from Harvard.

While in his first year of his medical residency in emergency medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2017, Kim was selected for NASA’s astronaut class of 2017. Asked how he has been able to achieve so much, Kim told NASA, “For me, it’s been trying be [sic] a good resident, physician, trying to be a good father and husband, and really answer all those different calls.”

Vice President Mike Pence is seen with NASA astronaut candidates Loral O'Hara, Woody Hoburg, and Jonny Kim during a tour of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas ©Getty Images | Joel Kowsky/NASA

As is naturally the case for this good soldier, Kim is happy to go wherever he is needed, as he explained in his NASA interview: “I’m just happy to be along for the ride [...] I‘ll do whatever is most helpful to the overall mission, to the team.” He adds, “Of course, I’d be ecstatic to go to the Space Station, to go back to the moon, maybe out into deep space, the Mars mission.”

That’s exactly what Kim is being prepared for as part of the Artemis program, which has the most diverse group of astronauts in terms of skills and background that NASA has ever assembled.

Working with U.S. commercial space flight companies as well as the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Artemis aims to have astronauts on the lunar south pole by 2024. Eventually, perhaps by 2030, astronauts like Kim could be sent on manned missions to Mars.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, one of the 13 selected for the elite Artemis program. ©Getty Images | MARK FELIX/AFP

For Kim, who has accomplished so much in his 35 years, his advice to young people who dream of being astronauts is very simple: “Don’t let that hunger for the unknown or that curiosity ever go away. It’s so important,” Kim emphasizes. “Maintain that passion in what you do. Certainly pursue your studies in the STEM field, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.”

He shares a message for young people aspiring toward a goal: “I want to give a heartfelt message to kids who may have big dreams but may not have the confidence that they think that they could do those things [...] good things in life are hard to get, but persevere, don’t give up, and most importantly, believe in and love yourself.”