Washington: NASA astronaut Jonny Kim is poised to embark on his inaugural mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as a flight engineer and member of the forthcoming Expedition 72/73 crew, following Sunita Williams’ return to Earth.
The mission, slated for March 2025, will feature Kim’s launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.
The team is slated to spend roughly eight months on the ISS, contributing to essential scientific research and technological progress.
Mission Details: Launch and Objectives
The launch is scheduled for March 2025, with Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky travelling to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft.
During their eight-month tenure in the orbiting lab, Kim will engage in various scientific studies and technology demonstrations aimed at bolstering preparations for future space expeditions and yielding benefits for life on Earth.
Who is Jonny Kim?
Jonny Kim was chosen as a NASA astronaut in 2017 after a notable career as a United States Navy lieutenant commander, naval aviator, and flight surgeon.
Before his astronaut training, Kim was an enlisted Navy SEAL. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School.
He completed his medical training with an internship at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Since his induction into NASA, Kim has supported mission and crew operations in diverse capacities, including as the lead operations officer for Expedition 65, T-38 operations liaison, and space station capcom chief engineer.
