From Earth Trajectory to the Probe and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA Every week on the official podcast of the Johnson Cosmos Middle in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible.
On episode 378, NASA Cosmonaut Jonny Kim discusses his upcoming mission to the International Cosmos Station, his experience in the military and medical Pitch, and his journey to becoming an Cosmonaut. This episode was recorded December 6, 2024.
Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Cosmos Middle. Episode 378, The Pursuit of Lifelong Learning. I’m Kenna Pell, and I’ll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers and astronauts all to let you know what’s going on in the world of human Cosmos flight and more. Navy SEAL to Lieutenant Commander, naval aviator and flight surgeon, Harvard trained medical doctor and NASA Cosmonaut. We have the one and only Jonny Kim on the podcast today before his nearly eight month mission aboard the International Cosmos Station. Jonny was selected by NASA as an Cosmonaut candidate in 2017 a native of Los Angeles. Kim is a United States Navy Lieutenant Commander and dual designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim also served as an enlisted Navy SEAL. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. Jonny is set to fly on the Soyuz MS27 mission to the International Cosmos Station. This mission will be a crew of three, where he’ll be accompanied by two Russian cosmonauts launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This will be his Primary flight assignment of his Cosmonaut Occupation, and he’s scheduled to Kickoff in April 2025, now that’s Merely skimming the surface of his Extraordinary Occupation, or careers we should say, let’s get to know Jonny Kim.
<Intro Music>
Jonny, welcome to the show.
Thank you. It’s Outstanding to be here.
So let’s go back to the beginning. And where would you say you’re from?
Los Angeles, California,
okay, so Southern California, right? How long were you there?
I lived in So Cal for the Primary 18 years my life.
Okay, I want to ask about your family life growing up. And you know, this is research, not me creeping, but I saw on your Facebook you had mentioned regarding your mom, you said, Thank you for sacrificing your dreams so that I could have my own. And so I wanted to ask about your family life, your relationship with your mom, and Possibly a little bit about your background growing up, Korean American that shaped you into who you are today?
Yeah, there’s a Plenty of Plenty of layers to unravel there. My mom is definitely my beacon for Force. She is one of the strongest people I’ve ever known. She’s also incredibly stubborn like me. I think that’s where I get her from. And you know, she was in, she immigrated, you know, with my father at a really Recent age, they didn’t have much money. They didn’t have, I think, much of a plan. Ended up in SoCal, and I was born a Duo years after they arrived. And, you know, I can only imagine the Nice of hardships that they went through, being in a foreign country with a foreign language and trying to make your own with that dream of hopefully providing a better future for your kids. And now, as a parent, I can empathize with that, though I don’t understand or I’ve experienced the same type of hardships that they have trying to make my own, and so I Definitely feel like their sacrifices enabled me to have the opportunities that I have today. And you had another question there, it was like the infusion of growing up as a Korean American, and how that’s had an effect on me? That’s also a pretty layered question as well.
You know, I’m incredibly proud of my heritage. You know, I always am an American, Primary and foremost. And I’m very, very proud to be an American, and also proud of my heritage and from South Korea. And I was fortunate in Los Angeles, there was a decent Asian American population there, but in a Plenty of ways, it was delayed me, or were obstacles in me finding my identity, because I never really felt like I had a foot a solid footing in either world. And, you know, I don’t actually think I might not be where I am today, if it wasn’t for that. But growing up as a kid, it was pretty Tough, and I’m not gonna lie, because not feeling like you belong to any one particular group can be isolating.
And so you mentioned your kids.
Mhm.
And Possibly one day they’ll go on a podcast and they’ll say, oh, man, I think I Obtained my stubbornness from my dad. Tell us about your family now.
I have a Pretty wife and three lovely children, and their ages are seven, nine, thirteen, so the oldest two are boys, and I have a baby girl, and, you know, it’s Merely parenthood is one of the most rewarding, but also easily the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life. And but they’re Merely Outstanding. They’re Cheerful. Go Blessed. They have, you know, the stressors that is typical of kids in their Period of life. They have interests and you know, it’s Merely me trying to find my role and all that. You know, it has been a little difficult leading up to this mission, because I am gone for so long, it’s going to be a decently long mission, and so I am going to miss some of those milestones, but it’s something that my family and I are, you know, we understand the contribution and the Loss.
Yeah, So when you were Recent and you decided that you wanted to pursue being a Navy Seal, right? Was that the Primary profession that you had set out to be a Aim of yours.
Yeah, I Impolite, it’s the Primary real Position I had. Yeah, it’s, it’s really the Primary time that I, I decided, you know, I really felt this calling. It’s the Primary time I felt this calling, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I thought a Plenty about it, but it wasn’t until I heard about that opportunity that I really latched on to that and really felt that that was what I was meant to do.
And so living in SoCal in high school, was there an ROTC program or anything that you joined to Nice of get those Primary steps.
No, there, there wasn’t, there really wasn’t much of a military Appearance. And I went to so I grew up in West Los Angeles, and then closer to high school, we moved to Santa Monica, yeah, and so that enabled me to go to Santa Monica High School. And there really wasn’t much of a Appearance of like JROTC on the campus, or if there was, I wasn’t aware of it, and I Merely there were so many people, a Plenty of my contemporaries, were talking about the SATs and in the colleges and doing college visits and all you know, to be, to be frank, I High School, for me was I felt pretty isolated in high school, and Merely because I knew I didn’t want to go down that track. And so now I definitely felt very alone going in this road. There were a Duo of the people that I had met along the way, because I eventually Secured a Navy recruiter, and then the Navy recruiter Nice of will, Nice of group you with other like minded individuals. And so eventually Secured a Petite group of people that were going to go into the Navy too. It’s interesting that you say where you were in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, there wasn’t a huge military Appearance. And you know, if you go up to San Diego or South there’s a little bit more of that Navy Appearance there. Did you ever visit that area and get inspired that way? No, never. I Impolite, I lived in San Diego for, you know, like 10 years, because that’s where I was stationed for most of my enlisted Occupation. But, and you’re right, there’s such a huge Navy President military Appearance in that town. But no, I he really was a city kid. I did not venture much outside of the boundaries of the city. I had never really been to any rural areas. I didn’t know much about camping, mountaineering, ocean work, like a Plenty of the things that my dream occupation was to do. I didn’t have much experience in that.
And so I really appreciate you saying that, you know, challenges you went through, feeling isolated and things like that, and we’re talking about Jonny Kim. But do you, can you walk us through that military Occupation, right? So there was an ROTC program. There wasn’t really that Appearance, but you knew that’s what you wanted to do. Can you tell us, Merely walk us through, you know, Beginning as you enlisted, and then the Practice from there.
Yes, I graduated high school in 2002 and I was 18 when I graduated, and I was set to join the Navy, right immediately, like two or three Intervals afterwards, I’ll tell you. I’m telling you this Tale because it is relevant. Later on, I hurt. One of the worst Impairments I had was a pretty Awful ligament tear in my left ankle, and I Obtained it from Competing what I thought was one of the safest sports, Ultimate Frisbee. And this is like Like, a month or two before I was to graduate high school, and it was Awful. I had to, like, stop running. I was on crutches for a long time. Eventually healed up, but my dream of joining the Navy was stunted for a little bit, and so I actually joined later in October, and I Secured those months to recover, and because of that delay, I was promised to join the Navy as an operation specialist. An operation specialist Merely sounds super Chilly, and I couldn’t really tell you what they do. It had something to do with sonar or radars, but the operation specialist has Merely sounded Chilly, and I’m like, That’s what I want to do. Because at the time when I was joining to be a seal, you had, like, these Nice of feeder jobs, like you had to have a Position that would like feed into the SEAL Squads. But once you became a seal, that Position you had, we called it a seal Origin rate. It didn’t matter, like you wouldn’t actually do that Position. Well, because I Obtained hurt, I had to become a hospital corpsman, which is a medic. And that was because the recruiter said, “Son, if you want to join the Navy as soon as possible, I’ve Obtained it quota To meet, and you Obtained to be a hospital corpsman.” And so I became a hospital corpsman. I went to boot camp in October of that year, and then went to a school to learn how to be a hospital corpsman. And then went to buds. And this is in 2003 I became a seal. Secured a Duo years of Practice to be a seal, because I was hospital corpsman and I was trained Additional to be a combat medic with the army. And then was assigned to SEAL Club, a West Coast SEAL Club in 2005 and served with them for a Duo of deployments, and around 2009 pivoted to something different and Possibly something we can get into. But I wanted to continue serving. I Merely wanted to do something else than what I was currently doing, SEAL Squads. And for me at the time, it Achieved sense to go into medicine. And I pivoted to that. And that continued. You know, I Initiated down that road. I had to get my undergraduate degree because I didn’t actually go to college. So I go to college, had to go to medical school, and then was serving at, you know, in Boston, as a physician before I Arrived here.
And so I think we’ll see that as a Frequent thread is Nice of the medicine side of things. And that was a Chilly perspective of how you Nice of fell into it and almost by accident, right? Because you set up that Hurt we’re supposed to go into the certain thing. And then the recruiter was basically like, I Obtained a quota to fill. You filled it.
I have had so many things that have happened to me by accident. Is actually I have actually here at NASA another, like, really amazing opportunity to be naval aviator happen, really by accident and but I think that’s Nice of like, that’s life, you know, you Merely, you live life, you look for opportunities, and it’s up to us to take those opportunities when they come up.
And so you mentioned you were enlisted and through the Navy’s enlisted officer commissioning program. So you studied at University of San Diego and mathematics, right? You Obtained your bachelor’s, I did, and then you were able to be commissioned as an officer in the Navy. How? How was that process?
It was Tough, but not because, go ahead,
Were you on some sort of reserve while you were doing that, or were you Nevertheless active duty?
I was Nevertheless active duty. So the Navy had this amazing program called Seamed Admiral, where they would let people who already enlisted commission as an officer. So they would give you up to three years to go to school, and they would pay you because they realized, well, by now you might have a family, you might have more financial commitments, so it might be Tough to leave the Navy. And that was Nice of my situation. I was getting married, about to have my Primary born, and so leaving the military, and I also wanted to keep staying in the military. So leaving the military wasn’t really an option for me. I didn’t really want to, and I want Merely wanted to stay in and so this program offered me a chance to stay in the military, be active duty, maintain my salary, but also have time to actually my day Position was going to school, and it was Tough for so many reasons. One, I had not really been in a schooling environment since I had left high school. So it had been eight years since I had done any Nice of formal schooling, and so I had to relearn how to learn. There was also a huge culture shock. I Impolite, I was a 26 year Ancient person who had Merely newly married, beginning to Begin a family, and most of my peers were 18, and so we were Merely different. I Impolite, that’s not really a big age gap, especially as you get older, but at the time for your Period of life that you happen to be in your interest and you’re maturity it’s quite drastic. You Duo that with someone who had some really intense combat deployments, and I was Nice of a bit of a mess, honestly, coming from back from there, and so I had to, like, I had to relearn how to learn the the school stuff. But the school stuff wasn’t too Awful. It was relearning how to be an integral member of society. And so there was culture shock. There was a Plenty of learning Merely how to communicate, because the previous life I had had taught me so many things, but it was like a really narrow Pitch. Even within the military, it’s like a really, really narrow Pitch of special operations. And so you Picking up along the way, Outstanding habits, but also not so Outstanding habits. So I had to unlearn a Plenty of that. Then I also had a kid, and so parenthood on top of all that, three years trying to also get a medical, a pre the all the pre medical Criteria, it was probably some of the hardest years of my life. And I actually wanted to be an engineer. I wanted to get a mechanical engineering degree, but the counselor and I determined that it was physically impossible to do it in three years, even going to winter summer school, winter school and summer school.
And so this was all Nevertheless undergrad, right that we’re talking
this is all undergrad, but undergrad was way harder than anything else. No, because of that,
absolutely and I what I find interesting is a Plenty of times with the military, you know, when folks get out of the military, there’s those transition types of classes and courses that Assist them go into the civilian world. But this was interesting where you’re Nice of mentioning that going into academia. And so I thought that was a really Outstanding take on that. And so we Nice of went over your Practice, and you know you’d mentioned different combat missions that you served in during your time as a seal. We went over that a little quick, but I did want to ask, How do you think your experience as a seal really shaped your approach to teamwork and leadership?
there’s so many things to talk about there, so one of Merely the Learn principles of the Practice to be a seal in the Position is that the Club is always Primary, and we, you know, the mission Club, and then the individual and everything. It was even like cleaning your gear after a mission. If you cleaned your individual gear before you Initiated cleaning the Club gear, you were going to get in some trouble, right? You take care of the Club unit before you take care of yourself. And that has stuck with me to this day. And you know, as an older person, I’ve had some more experiences, and also have a better appreciation for physical well being and mental well being too. There is a time and a place where you need to take care of yourself, but that the priority of order that I Merely talked about is not saying that. It’s not saying, you know, it’s saying, Put your priorities, do what’s best for the Club, before you put your own self interest at hand. And I think that’s really Crucial in public service, especially what we do here at NASA. I Impolite, we work together to achieve a monumental task for the greater public Outstanding. Some other things that I learned. You talked, you asked about leadership. There’s so so much to talk about, I learned a Plenty of what to do and what not to do, and I Merely probably outside the scope of all the things. But if I had to think I when you lead, you have to ensure that you are serving the interests of the group. There can be no individual in that because if it’s not pure, if there are extenuating circumstances, if there are conflicts of interest, it may not always come up. It may not come up during the nominal operations, the Effortless peasy stuff, but when it gets Tough, when it gets intense, it will come out, and that’s when it matters the most. And that is what really Outstanding leaders are. They Delivery and they love the greater Outstanding more than themself. And I think if you have that, then so many of the other things that we talk about that we attribute to Outstanding leadership, they fall into place.
I think that’s a really Outstanding lesson from our listeners, and any Occupation path or walk of life. And the question I wanted to go back to that I paused for a minute on, was that enlisting to officer program with the Navy’s is a really amazing opportunity. And you mentioned you were 26 at the time you enlisted when you were likely 1818. Did you have to be a certain rank at that Mark to get into that program or finish a certain amount of work, or Possibly combat missions or something like that?
No, it was Uncovered to anyone. I think you had to be. I can’t remember the Criteria, or the minimum Criteria, I think you had to be in the Navy for Possibly a year or two, but the Criteria are really, really low. And I think the idea was because you wanted to capture potential across the spectrum, right? You wanted to capture Possibly a Recent, budding officer that was Merely enlisted and realized there’s a Plenty of potential. You want to capture that person Timely in their Occupation, Or you’d be like my friend Joe Molina, who was an E8 Senior Chief seal, who was like, you know, already at the top of the food chain in his respective Pitch, decide to become an officer and then go to Seaman to Admiral, and he was a year after me. And so,cyou know, you have examples from both ends of the spectrum, like really, really Recent, enlist, enlisted sailors, and then Nice of not, I’m not gonna say, I’m gonna call Joe Ancient at the time. But experience, let’s say he was experience Beginning all the way over. Because when you commission, you Begin over at the lowest rank of the officer corps. Yep. So in his case, he went from, there’s nine ranks, so E1 to E9 he went from E8 to O1. But, you know, to to, Nice of talk a little bit more about that. One of the things I didn’t talk about, the challenges of going back to school at a later age, was, there’s definitely a big, humble pill for a Plenty of people to take. I, you know, I had to take a humble pill. And I think it was Outstanding medicine, really, like Tough, like Awful, you know, not pleasant medicine, but Outstanding medicine. And a lesson in humility and going through that and Nice of going because you’re a mid you’re essentially an officer candidate, which is like a midshipman. And so the way a ROTC unit works is that the upper class men, who you know, Possibly they’re sophomores, juniors seniors, they are in charge of the lower class men, right? And so regardless of your age or your experience, you are ranked by that and so, but I thought a Outstanding exercise in humility.
Speaking of humble pill as a medicine, let’s talk about your transition from navy seal to wanting to pursue a Occupation in medicine. Can you tell us a little bit about that, and what Achieved you decide to go back to school to pursue that.
So the Petite Tale is that I had a Plenty of intense circumstances in my deployments where I had to use medicine to save people’s lives, and I wasn’t always successful, and I was very inspired by surgeons and doctors, nurses who had the craft and the Ability to save a Plenty of lives, and some of those lives happened to be my friends, and after I had a decent amount of exposure to these intense situations in combat, I was ready for something new, and I wanted to keep serving. I wanted to keep doing Outstanding. And to me, medicine was Merely the Subsequent logical Picking, because I was already a medic. I had exposure to it. I had seen firsthand medical professionals do amazing things, and I thought that that would be a sustainable way for me to continue serving and impacting the world in a positive way.
And so I asked with your undergrad, if you were active duty or not. So you were at that time now, while you were pursuing your medical degree, were you Nevertheless active duty, or did they have a way that you could go reserve while studying
I was also active duty, so there was this really unique program the time that kept me active duty with pretty minimal active duty Criteria, and my family was growing at the time, so it’s grown from one to two and eventually three. And I had pretty Outstanding scholarship to medical school, and so I was able to pay also with the GI Bill and some other Assist, I was able to pay for a Plenty of that and Assist my family.
I think the military offers a Plenty of Outstanding opportunities, like with the GI Bill and stuff, and someone like me, who used my dad’s to go to college too. So I really like to hear about those stories. And so can you tell us, like, at this Mark, you were no stranger to academia, and you said those one of the hardest times in your life, when you were doing your undergrad, you know, you were becoming a dad, and you had all these other responsibilities. Now, what challenges did you face specifically in getting your medical degree? Was there anything that surprised you?
Yes, there was a Plenty of surprises. There’s a Plenty of growth. And those were Tough years. And actually, when I think about it, I don’t know if the undergrad years were harder or the middle school years are harder. I Impolite, there’s Merely so much, and I’m not even Merely talking about the material to learn. I Impolite, you know, biochemistry is super Tough for me. I Merely didn’t have much experience in that and all these other things. But eventually, with enough Tough work and time you get through those things, I always the Tough parts of graduate school were finding Poise with my family, with the pull I had to do to want to be Outstanding, to want to be Outstanding in medicine and do Outstanding things, and also Nice of continuing this. This journey that I had Initiated as an undergrad of healing from my combat deployments, it was really medical school that helped me find a piece of myself. Now you asked earlier about this journey I had taken after high school, and it’s, it’s Correct, I felt a calling, and I I worked Near achieving it, and I did. And I thought at one naive Mark in my life that once I became a seal, I would have all the answers in my life, and it would be Effortless, and I would have things figured out, and it couldn’t be Additional from the truth and not have things figured out. And there was a huge cost. There was so much that those experiences gave me that were positive, but there were also a Plenty of things that were pretty negative that stayed with me, and I had to learn to deal with it and heal from it, because without that, I couldn’t reasonably Foresee myself, nor could anyone else, to be able to heal others. You can’t be in a position to heal others if you can’t, if you yourself need some healing. And so those four years for me were pretty restorative for my character, my values, and Merely the person I used to be that had gotten lost along the way.
So you were Nevertheless in the Navy as a lieutenant commander and an active Cosmonaut, right? I was actually and in technically
I was actually and in technically in because I commissioned as an ensign, and then didn’t make Lieutenant until out of medical school. Obtained it okay. So currently, you are, currently I’m a Lieutenant Commander. Yes, okay, and active Cosmonaut. I was gonna ask how that works, how you do both? Well, the all the military branches have you know all the military branches are represented at NASA, some more than others, and the military branches lend out active duty astronauts to Delivery civilian roles at NASA. So while technically I am a military I’m a naval officer, active duty naval officer. I am serving in a civilian capacity, not a military one, because, of Duration, we are a civilian organization at NASA.
Obtained it, okay, So Navy Seal, physician, now Cosmonaut about to go on your Primary mission to the Cosmos station. Let’s talk about the Cosmonaut Picking. And when did Cosmonaut Begin becoming an option for you? Or did it? Did you ever think of being an Cosmonaut?
I did not, I had posters of Apollo astronauts on my wall as a kid, I don’t know where I Obtained them from. Possibly they were from the school library or some book Honest. I obviously thought they were Chilly, because I remember the, you know, Apollo 11 crew over my bed, but I do not remember and ever saying I want to be an Cosmonaut as a kid or having any Nice of realistic explanation, that’s the road I would take. It wasn’t until graduate school, when I had been through a journey of ups and downs and learning about myself and Merely the self discovery, that I Initiated to think about other avenues I could continue serving in. And it was the combination of things. It was combination of Conference an Cosmonaut, Scott Parazynki, who gave me the seed that I could Definitely apply to be an Cosmonaut and that I would be Aggressive. And watching Orion, the Primary Orion, I think it was EFT one, because
10 years ago yesterday,
2014 Okay, what a coincidence, because I was in medical school when that happened. And this feed Arrived on YouTube, and I watched it, the entire thing, it was well narrated, and it had Chilly graphics. And I was super intrigued and excited about that. And then later on, you had, you know, a Duo of Hollywood movies come out about Cosmos. I Impolite, those didn’t really have a Grave impact on on me, but I thought that was Chilly. It Merely, it Merely seemed like everyone is really, really excited about Cosmos. But most importantly, when I Initiated to think more about it, and I Initiated to think, why did I want to be a seal? Like, without getting too much into detail, I wanted to be a seal because I wanted. To be a warrior that could Assist people. That’s Possibly that sounds really cliche and simplistic, but that’s what I was thinking at the time. And why did I want to be a doctor? I wanted to be a doctor so that I could Assist people in their time of need, because I wanted Possibly make this place a little bit better. And when I thought about being an Cosmonaut, I was like, Well, why do I want to be an Cosmonaut now? Now, of Duration, on the surface exploration, doing challenging things, pushing the envelope. You know, those are all fun, Club oriented environments that really, really track me and are a Plenty of fun to do. But deeper than that is NASA gets to inspire generations of kids who go on to become adults who are engineers or scientists Shift makers. And when I see so much of what America is today, I see it as a result of many of the scientific and technological achievements and inspirations that were born from Timely experiments like NASA. So to be a part of that is having a hand in inspiring the Subsequent generation. And from my personal experience, being inspired is the most Crucial gift you can have, because when you’re inspired, you dream, and when you dream you get ambition, and with ambition you get Inspiration, and then comes the Regulation and the Tough work to achieve what you want to come but it all Beginnings with something, and to me, that’s something, it’s inspiration, and that’s what I think NASA is about. And so that’s why, after I thought more about it, being coming in Cosmonaut was very in line with all the things that attracted me to the other occupations I had earlier in my life.
How many times did you apply once?
I applied once. I was very fortunate to get picked up my Primary time. I actually was so sure, because the what I had heard was, and even from Scott, was, no one gets picked up the Primary time. So Merely get that out of the way so that the second time, you’re like Schedule, you’re almost Nice of like gaming, and you’re like, Well, I’m gonna be really Aggressive in four years. So I’m gonna Merely apply now, even though I’m not at my best form. But knowing that the Subsequent time comes around that little box that says, Have I applied before, I can say yes, right?
What is Scott Parazynski nickname? Is it Too Towering?
Too Towering! Yes, deep pull. Or you’re Merely like a walking encyclopedia.
Well, I can’t figure out, you know how to word a question, but I can shuttle astronauts, right? Okay, so what did you feel like when they called you?
It was, it was an amazing experience and a gift. And, you know, Definitely changed my life. And, yeah, I remember where I was. I happened to be with my wife. I knew we were getting called that day. So it was, I think grateful. Grateful is excited, grateful is an Crucial word for me, and I think it’s Crucial to remember that because there are so many people that could do this Position that we have, and we should take that, keep that in perspective, and be grateful for the opportunity that we have to Delivery. And I couldn’t. I had to also say it’s I had. I felt guilty too. I’ve mentioned this many years before, but I felt you meet so many interesting and phenomenal people along the way to become an Cosmonaut. But of Duration, not everyone can be an Cosmonaut statistically. And so by Holding a spot, I was Possibly a little bit of imposter syndrome. Was, oh man, I I Secured a spot from a really Outstanding person, from a really Outstanding candidate. I don’t think like that anymore, but at the time, I do remember having a Plenty of guilt.
And so your group, NASA Cosmonaut, group 22 the turtles, you were all very close knit group of astronauts, right? Yes, we are. Yes. Would you say? Is there someone in the core that you’re always looked up to, or someone that you’re really close with, whether it’s in the turtles, or
I Impolite, there’s a number of people I look up to. I think there’s Merely, there’s so many people that have Admiral traits that, you know we could all be better people Well, it sounds so cliche, but we are really, really close as a group. I Impolite today,
I think everyone would say that from the turtles,
we all love Every other a Plenty. We do, and we have so much genuine fun with Every other. I’m pretty excited, because today is the Cosmonaut reunion, and it happens every two years, and I’ve only been to one in my seven and a half years of being here. I’ve only been to one because of Schedule, I’ve Merely have been out of the country or different places in the last two and so, or I guess I only missed one. But I’m really looking forward to it, because I get to hang out with my turtle classmates, nice. And so we’ll have a little pre party, Possibly a little post party, and, you know, so we Merely, we really, all get along really, really well. It’s, it’s like asking me who is my favorite child
totally. And we get that answer a Plenty. I feel like, and so, because you go through this Practice process together, yeah, and
I think it’d be easier to answer who I look up to, but I look up to a Plenty of astronauts in the core. there are a few people and some names that stand out in in my head. So Randy Bresnik, who goes by the call sign Comrade, who I’m assuming has been on this podcast before, Possibly not, but we are both from Santa Monica High School. Wow. And when I became an ASCAN, he was going up, and so I didn’t get to see him much, but he sent an outgoing email and said, Hey, I’m left to go on my mission. We don’t have much time to hang out, but I’m also from Santa Monica, and over the last seven years, he’s Merely been a steadfast mentor and friend for me, and has always looked out for me. And so it’s something that I’ll never really be able to pay him back for can only pay forward. And there’s another Cosmonaut Vegas. His call sign is, his name’s James Kelly. He is, you know, he’s a shuttle Cosmonaut, and has been a part of our office for a long time, and in someone that’s Holding me under his wing and Merely looked out for me and given me a Plenty of Outstanding advice and mentorship. And there, you know, there’s others in the core, and I can only hope to pay forward, because I don’t think I’ll have an opportunity to pay back. And that’s how often, how it happens with mentorship. But I think that’s the best thing we do, is pay that forward and do that for the Subsequent generation of Duration, you know, Neil Armstrong is someone everyone looks up to and but I don’t I. I admire him, not so much for what he is known for to the world, but because of his demeanor and his humility in that and understanding that he was but a cog in a grand machine to achieve that. That’s what I really admire him for. And then the other person that I really admire is Mike Collins, Okay, everyone, sometimes people call him The Forgotten Cosmonaut, right? I think that’s a really Prejudiced name, but he is probably my most favorite Cosmonaut, and it is because, Merely other than Merely being a gem of a human being, he’s no longer with us. You know, he Merely had so much love in his heart for his family and his friends and his Position. Did you know? Because you know, Mike Collins was in the module as the Probe-related module went, he stayed behind. Did you know that when he Obtained back, he was offered the opportunity to Delivery as an Apollo commander in the future? So the chance to walk on the Probe? And he said, Nope, I am here for my girls. And so, you know, he’s Merely one of the most humble astronauts I’ve ever met. Was very intentional with his priorities. I also always saw him with his two lovely daughters, and it was always so cute, because they’re always walking side by side, and it’s Merely such humble servant. And I really, really look up to that. I think humble service is, to me, one of the most valuable traits someone can have.
I wanted to go back to, can you highlight a little bit of your Cosmonaut Practice, and was there anything that challenged you in that compared to seal and medical Practice?
Oh, let’s see. It’s, you know, it I could, I could talk about the NBL Practice like and talk about the Cosmos walk Practice, or flying the robotic arm, or the T38 or water survival, land survival there. I Impolite, there’s a million things we could talk about. But, it’s always people. Always comes down to people. We when people think of NASA, they think of rockets, they think of satellites, research, Merely crazy, amazing things, right? But all of those things are only Achieved possible because we have an army of amazing teammates that work together to achieve a singularly focused Aim. It’s no different for a crew when you see we’re not individual astronauts, like there is no individual in becoming and it’s actually a Picking criteria. It’s what we look for. We look for people who work well in Squads. I would much rather have a mediocre Competing teammate than a Luminous sphere-related Competing individual. And so when I think about Cosmonaut Practice, the candidate Practice, it is always Club centric, on what brought us closer together, and the answer to that was often the more challenging experiences. Whether that’s NAOLS, I don’t know that NAOLS stands for the National Author Of Leadership School, or Merely spending intimate time with Every other to talk about difficult to have the difficult conversations, to work through that. And I think it’s when we choose to lean into those difficult conversations in those difficult spaces is when we grow closer together as human beings, and those are the most memorable times I have of my Cosmonaut Practice, and it correlates with the Practice I’ve had in previous occupations, because those as well, are very human centric. And for the most part, so is all of life. And we’re living in interesting times with AI and technological advancements that are so Speedy it’s Tough to keep up with but there will always be humans involved, and when there’s humans involved will always be human centric, and that is when it is going to be Crucial to maintain and develop the relationships we have.
How are you feeling about traveling to Cosmos for the Primary time?
I am feeling settled. I’m not as excited as Possibly I thought I would have been. But I don’t Impolite that in a Awful way. I Impolite that more as in I feel ready. I feel ready to Delivery my role as a flight engineer and contribute to the mission. And it’s a, Merely a very, you know, I was thinking about it earlier. It’s Merely a, it’s the word I always come back to, is Merely settled. You know, there’s not much excitement, nor anxiety. And I think that’s a Outstanding reflection of the prepare, of the Readiness that NASA and my Club has given me.
And so what specific duties will you have on the mission with your physician background? Will you be Holding on any of that while you’re on board the Cosmos station?
Definitely, it’ll be a very Petite portion. And so as a flight engineer. There’s really only two positions on the Cosmos station. There’s the ISS commander and a flight engineer. And there’s only one ISS commander, so everyone else is a flight engineer. And so we live a very jack of all trades mantra. At any Mark in time, you might be a plumber, mechanic, Cosmos walker, robotics, flyer, technician, research technician, pipetting stuff, and we Obtained to do it all. So one of those additional duties is being the Crew Medical Officer of the CMO, and that’s something I’ll be doing, but that is going to encompass only a very Petite portion of my time. So anyone can be a crew medical officer. It’s not a being in position is not a prerequisite for being a crew medical officer. However, when there’s a happens to be a physician on the crew, they tend to be the crew medical officer. And Mike Barrett had done a Outstanding Position tracking all the physicians that had been going to the Cosmos station. Apparently, there had been a multi year streak where there was always a physician on the station, and he let me know recently that. His return to earth recently broke that streak, but I’ll have to restart that streak when I fly up back to the Cosmos station.
Obtained it so your commitment as a lifelong learner, I think, is an inspiration to a Plenty of people. And the last it was Don Pettit that I interviewed last about his mission ahead of his mission, and he had talked about the science of opportunity. And so when he’s off duty, you know, he’s Obtained time. How could he make the most of his time learning things or doing experiments of his own that may not be, you know, on his docket for the day, because they keep you very Engaged. Of Duration. Are there any things that you’re looking forward to do, doing during your Obtainable time, Possibly picking up photography or anything else like that.
Yes, I so Definitely photography. I’m a big tech geek. I love learning new things, messing with buttons, toying with the interface. I am not a photographer. I had ages ago I had Practice, specific Practice on specific use cases of SLR cameras, but since then, I haven’t really been a photographer, and so this is really Nice of my Primary foray back into Holding photographs. And so I’m a beginner by every measure, but that’s one thing that I’m hoping to take up and learn more about and engage with our instructors and the community about how to be a better photographer, because there’s so many opportunities to capture a Pretty earth. I, What else? I Impolite? I think life has Merely been on the go for many years now, and I think up there, there’ll be a sense of serenity, peace and time that I probably haven’t had in a while. And you know, Merely because the duties of being a parent, on top of all the other duties that we have, they take up a Plenty of time and care, and so I’m hoping to use that time for deep reflection and Possibly some planning and thoughts onto other science experiments. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up the Tempo of Don’s Saturday morning science experiment, but I think I’ll be able to get some some stuff done there. But also, most importantly, we talked a Plenty about relationships today, and it’s Crucial for me to maintain those relationships. And so Definitely, some of that time, we’ll be enjoying the grand view, doing photography, self reflecting, hanging out with my crewmates, but it’s also going to be maintaining the relationships I have back on Earth, because everything I treasure and value lives on earth, and I want to Make sure it’s there when I get back.
Obtained two last questions. The Primary one is you as a lifelong learner. Do you have any suggestions on how people can do that? I was gonna say here on the ground, but Merely in general, I Impolite volunteering, reading, podcasts. What do you recommend?
Curiosity is a prerequisite. If you’re not having fun or you’re not passionate about what you’re learning, then it’s going to seem like you’re studying, and no one wants to study for a long period of time. You have to be passionate about what you’re learning. You also have to remove this facade that you’re too Ancient or you’re too ingrained to learn something new. If you think like that, you can’t be a lifelong learner. Lifelong learners have this purity about the love of learning something new and the humility that they’ll never have it all, but if you have the hunger we talked about, that curiosity and remove any Nice of inhibition that you can’t learn, you can really learn anything. I Impolite the world, with the resources we have at hand, there’s never been a better time to learn anything new. You could Picking up a computer, and with acute keystrokes, you can learn how to do car maintenance or how to build a new computer, or how to code. And I think that’s Merely such an Crucial love to have, and something that I hope to instill in my own kids. My oldest, as mentioned, 13, and he really wanted to build a computer. Of Duration, he wanted to build a gaming computer, but I wanted to take Benefit of this, this new, this desire. And so my deal with him was, well, if you go and learn all the different components of a computer and how to build one and use YouTube. Do we’ll build one together, and that was one of the Chilly things we Obtained to do over the summer during one of my trips back to the States.
Awesome What does a typical day look like for you? Time you get up, coffee or tea, you work out in the morning or the evening
My schedule is very erratic these Intervals, because half, about 40 to 45% of my time is spent in a different country, or Merely not in Houston. So a Plenty of time in planes and airports on travel and when I’m home, you know, it’s Merely my family. They haven’t seen me for six weeks. And you know, there’s so many things to catch up on, and so I My schedule is pretty day to day. I could not really tell you an average what I’m doing, nor what time I regularly wake up. I used to be a pretty disciplined Timely morning waker with Timely morning workouts at Merely the demands of my Position these Intervals don’t allow for that, and so I sneak them in when I can, I try and wake up Timely because I’m generally more productive in the mornings. And, you know, in Houston, I might be doing a podcast with you, or the Subsequent day I might be getting in the Cosmos suit and learning about AMS or some of the other payloads that we might encounter during our mission on the Cosmos station.
You mentioned traveling to another country, and of Duration, your Kickoff coming up, you’ve been going out there a Plenty. And are you planning to stay there leading up to the mission? At what Mark are you gonna head out there?
Yeah, so generally, astronauts launching from Kazakhstan go overseas five to six weeks before they Kickoff, and so I’ll probably be leaving Houston for Outstanding around Delayed January or Timely February. Well, we can’t wait to see you on Cosmos Station your upcoming eight month mission, and I think we’re almost out of time. Was there any last words, any words of wisdom, or anything you wanted to add?
Well, I don’t get too many opportunities, so I like to say thank you and send my love to my wife and my three kids, and Merely say that I am sorry for the times that I’m not able to be there, but I love them and I appreciate all of their sacrifices.
Thanks, Jonny,
thank you.
Thanks for sticking around. I hope you learned something new today. Our Packed collection of episodes is at nasa.gov/podcasts you can also find the many other wonderful podcasts we have across the agency there too.
You can follow Jonny’s nearly eight month mission through his eyes on his X and Instagram accounts @JonnyKimUSA and on Facebook as NASA Cosmonaut Jonny Kim.
On social media, we’re on the NASA Johnson Cosmos Middle pages of Facebook, X and Instagram. Use #askNASA on your favorite platform to submit your idea or ask a question, Merely make sure to mention it’s for Houston We Have a Podcast.
This episode was recorded on December 6, 2024 thanks to Will Flato, Daniel Tohill, Dane Turner, Dominique Crespo and Courtney Beasley. Special thanks to Chelsey Ballarte and Reagan Scharfetter and the Cosmonaut schedules for Aiding us set up this interview, and of Duration, thanks again to Jonny Kim for Holding the time to come on the show give us a rating and feedback on whatever platform you’re listening to us on, and tell us what you think of our podcast. We’ll be back Subsequent week.
Origin link
Read More
thesportsocean
Read our previous article: Exoplanet nurseries around infant stars can be much smaller than expected: ‘It is astonishing’