Jonny Kim is a Harvard Medical School graduate, a Navy SEAL veteran and now NASA’s first Korean American astronaut.
Kim and his fellow classmates graduated the NASA Artemis program last week on Jan. 13, joining the ranks of the Astronaut Corps.
He tweeted saying it was a “true privilege and honor” to walk among them.
“We’re the lucky ones to represent humanity. Let’s work towards a better future for our world and our children.”
Kim told NBC that being the first Korean American astronaut, as well as one of very few Asian American Navy SEALs, made him stronger.
“I felt the pressure that I wanted to be the best I could be, to make sure I was a good representation, to disprove any Asian stereotypes,” Kim told NBC News.
Kim has overcome a lot in his life. In high school he excelled academically, but struggled to make friends, Business Insider reports.
“I remember lunch time in high school being one of the worst times of the day, because I never wanted to be seen not having any friends to eat with — and I would roam the halls aimlessly,” Kim told Insider.
His parents, who were born in South Korea, moved to the United States in the 1980s, according to CNN.
Kim told Business Insider that they set an example for him by working hard and starting their own business, which they wanted to pass on to him.
Kim wasn’t interested in the family business, though. From the age of 16, he wanted to become a Navy SEAL.
Despite his father’s death when he was only 18, Kim succeeded in his aspiration to join the Navy. He served two deployments as part of SEAL Team 3 in the Middle East, according to Fox News.
Kim’s service is what inspired him to join the medical field, he told the Harvard Gazette during his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2017. Kim was accepted by the NASA’s Artemis astronaut program shortly during that residency.
Kim told NASA he became an astronaut because he deeply believed in its mission.
In hopes of continuing to be a good example, he offered advice to his younger self in an interview with NASA.
“All things that are worthwhile are very difficult to obtain.”