First elite soldier, then doctor, finally astronaut. The story of Jonny Kim seems to bring together more completely different professional lives in the same person.
After high school, Kim joined the United States Navy and became a Navy SEAL, entering one of the country's most selective military departments.
But that wouldn't have been his final destination.
After years of service, he was admitted to a training program to become official and returned to study. In 2012 he graduated in mathematics at the University of San Diego**.
Then he changed direction again.
He entered Harvard Medical School and in 2016 he graduated in medicine.
At that point his curriculum already included experiences that, taken individually, could represent the goal of an entire career.
Space was still missing.
In 2017, NASA selected him as an astronaut candidate.
After years of preparation, Kim was assigned to the Soyuz MS-27 mission and on 8 April 2025 reached the International Space Station.
There he spent about eight months, for a total of **245 days in space***, working as a flight engineer and participating in operational activities and scientific experiments. He returned to Earth on December 9, 2025.
The most interesting detail of its history is not only the amount of objectives achieved.
It is the way in which apparently far-off skills have ended up overlapping and completing.
The military experience taught him to work under pressure. Scientific studies have accompanied him towards medicine and his professional path provided him with valuable skills also to face an extreme environment like space.
Jonny Kim didn't pursue a linear career.
He continued to prepare for something that, every time, seemed even harder to reach than the previous goal.
Navy SEAL. Graduated in mathematics. Doctor. Astronaut.
Four definitions that could normally tell four different paths.
In his case they tell one life.