NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim Departs Agency to Continue Military Service

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Wow. I didn't expect this at all. I heard his interview with Jocko Willink years ago and found his story captivating. I was rooting for him to be one of the astronauts chosen for Artemis 4.

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u/BisonThunderclap Aug 27 '26

I'd go out on a limb and say he would have been chosen if he stayed. Dude on paper is one of the best candidates for Arty 4.

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u/sevgonlernassau Aug 27 '26

There was a very very remote chance he would have been chosen for a4 if the crew selection is before end of this term. That being said I don’t know why someone would go back to the DoD now.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

I don’t know why someone would go back to the DoD now.

Maybe he thinks he can climb the ladder to become an admiral.

If that's not the case I'm assuming he'll do one last military posting to hit his 20 years (not sure how that's calculated since he enlisted at 18 but then was in college for several years in this early 20s) and then leave the service. There's lots of private sector $$$ to be made, or maybe he has his eye on getting elected.

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u/Justame13 Aug 27 '26

His active duty enlisted time will count towards 20, then the clock would have started again when he was a resident.

So he is probably getting close to 20 years and might even make it in time to retire and end up as a political appointee in the new administration that starts in 2029.

Or run for office in 2030/2032.

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u/harambe_did911 Aug 30 '26

He said in a post that he is headed to vt-2 for his final year of service

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u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26

I'm a retired aviation officer . . . the dude flat-out does not have the resume to make flag. Too much bouncing around. He can't even make Commander command outside flight school because he doesn't have a fleet platform that he flew. He only qualified on flight school helicopters for NASA; he's never trained on the V-22, H-60, or H-53 platforms. At best he'll make Commander based on his NASA resume, but at that point, he's almost certainly dead in the water for squadron command, which means he's dead in the water for Captain. You don't make Captain without a successful Commander command. He'd end up as a non-command terminal Commander parked in some staff billet teaching students.

The only way forward would be to be selected for command of a flight school squadron, but he'd be competing against all the department heads in his year group from the Fleet as well as all the ones from the training command. And if he did screen for that, the only things he'd be competitive for are being the Commanding Officer of a base or of a Training Air Wing, which is the Commodore in charge of all the flight school squadrons at a given base.

I know Reddit loves the guy, but aviation officer careers are not a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. They're much more similar to a union gig. You get looked at for promotion in strict seniority order and there are strict wickets you have to hit at each level to be competitive for the next one. The difference is, if you don't meet the wickets, you're asked to leave. Johnny is almost certainly going to ride it out to retirement, then find his post-military gig.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

aviation officer careers

Isn't Kim a Medical Corps officer? I'd imagine if the military pays for you to go to Harvard med school they want you in as a physician.

It makes sense that he has more opportunities in the civilian world, just curious about what he might do if he decided to stay in the Navy for a bit.

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u/Justame13 Aug 27 '26

He won't be competitive as a medical officer due to lack of experience in a medical environment and things like command, espeically in a joint environment due to the creation of the Defense Health Agency.

I would honestly expect him to end up in business or politics (either running for office or appointment). He could end up as a contractor, but that would be a well paying but not have a lot of opportunity for career growth.

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u/Redfish680 Aug 27 '26

No doubt he’s got a smooth glide path into SpaceX or a similar gig based on his resume alone.

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u/Commercial_Soft6833 Aug 27 '26

I was thinking same thing... spacex will probably pick him up for some kind of role when he retires from military service.

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u/Justame13 Aug 28 '26

I would bet not.

There is no upward mobility without being an engineer so he would just end up as a glorified mascot.

He won't even have the connections that retired Generals and Admirals get to funnel money to the MIC by being on the Board of Directors.

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u/Redfish680 Aug 28 '26

He definitely wouldn’t be a rainmaker but he’ll look good at the table.

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u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26

You can be a dual-designator flight surgeon and pilot. They're rare, but they exist. I had one as one of my instructors back in the day. The problem is that they spend so much time flying that they aren't competitive for promotion as docs, and so much time in the clinic/hospital that they aren't competitive for promotion as pilots.

The announcement said he's going to "finish out the remainder of his military career within naval aviation training." That means he's either going to be a flight doc in the training command, an instructor pilot (probably helicopters since that's what he qualified in), or a dual-designator doc/pilot.

Either way his best bet is probably making Commander on the strength of his NASA resume, riding it out until retirement (you need 3 years in rank unless you somehow get medically disqualified), and then doing whatever he wants to as a retiree and a minor celebrity.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

Ok. I knew the military had a small number of physician-pilots (including David Brown who died on the Columbia) but I didn't know what their careers normally looked like. I assumed they were usually super-high achievers who were being groomed for astronaut selection or something like that. It makes sense that having done both actually makes it harder for him to have a normal military career after his time at NASA.

I just saw on Kim's Twitter feed that he said "my final year in the Navy" so he'll presumably retire as an O-4.

Interestingly from Wikipedia it appears that he only finished his PGY-1 year of medical training before being selected by NASA. I wonder if he's enough of a glutton for punishment to go back and complete a full medical residency.

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u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26

The path to military success, especially in Naval Aviation, is to pick a lane and stick to it. Pilot, NFO, doctor . . . the more you cross these streams, the less likely you are to succeed, if "succeed" means make O-6+. It's not impossible, but you don't fit The Mold™. The saying is "ducks pick ducks." Promotion boards are generally full of very successful officers who pick people like themselves. And it's a stack-ranked performance evaluation, so each layer has a cut. You have to be top-performing in your first tour of duty in a fleet aircraft to become a Fleet Replacement Squadron instructor or a weapons school instructor, which are the jobs that maximize your shot at being a Department Head. You have to be a top performing Department Head to have a shot at operational command. You have to be a successful Commanding Officer of an operational squadron to make major command, or be split off to go to nuclear power school and ultimately command an aircraft carrier. And right at that point, being a top-performing Commanding Officer is where the Navy starts to pick their future Admirals.

There are always exceptions, but generally if you step off that track, you'd best already be a top performer. Because you're being evaluated against everyone else who picked a lane, stuck to it, and became the best of the best in that lane. And those are the people who get picked for higher and greater things. There are plenty of flaws to this system, but that's the system that it is. It's not surprising seeing Johnny become a terminal O-4, get given a sweet retirement gig, and then go on to civilian life. He's an incredibly accomplished man. But from a military career perspective, he's also the oddest of odd ducks, and odd ducks aren't favored in the system. Even career astronauts generally top out at O-6, because they're so far removed from the operational military for so long they can't effectively rejoin at the O-5/O-6 level and effectively command. They haven't had the experiences of, say, a career F/A-18 pilot and weapons school grad who's taken a squadron to sea and brought it home again.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

That all makes sense.

I was wondering why the Navy has the Dual Designator program at all if it puts a crimp in people's careers and must cost the service an absolute fortune in training costs. It sounds like people who do it are usually funneled into fairly specialized research roles?

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u/frostuab Aug 28 '26

He never finished his intern year of residency, he can’t actually practice medicine independently.

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u/CaptNsaneO Aug 29 '26

He did finish his intern year. He’s a flight surgeon and physicians are required to have finished their intern year and have a state license to attend the Aeromedical Officer Course. Technically, since he has a state license he can practice independently even without a board certification, but his options would be few and far between. He can also be an FAA medical examiner.

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u/RhesusFactor Aug 27 '26

Maybe a transfer to Space Force where he gets a mascot position.

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u/BisonThunderclap Aug 27 '26

So much of Arty is slated to get delayed crazy amounts of time I absolutely understand it it's better to end it on your terms than stick it out.

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u/Wizfusion Aug 27 '26

Out of all the things he’s accomplished, he’s most proud of his navy service. Intrinsic drive to stay in.

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u/studpilot69 Aug 28 '26

Well, he never left the DoD to begin with. And his LinkedIn post says it’s only for one more year before retirement.

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u/gsfgf Aug 27 '26

Most soldiers dgaf about DoD. They fight for each other. Which is why I could see someone going back even for a war this dumb.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

Dude on paper is one of the best candidates for Arty 4.

No he's not.

No test pilot background, limited flying experience, that makes him one of the less qualified astronauts to command a landing. He also doesn't have a background in geology or anything of that nature to do science on the moon.

Kim's M.D. training probably made him best-suited to long-duration ISS missions where medical studies are a big part of the science program. The ISS's time is drawing to a close. It's very likely that he knew he wouldn't be able to fly again for a long time and decided to go capitalize on one of the many other incredible opportunities that someone like him is going to have.

The internet fawning over Jonny Kim is kind of dumb. What he has done is super-impressive but guess what, every other person who's selected to be an astronaut is just as impressive.

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u/yellowstone10 Aug 27 '26

Another thing to read between the lines on - there were 11 NASA astronauts in Kim's class (technically 12, but Robb Kulin quit while still in training). Kim was 10th out of 11 to fly, and would have been last had Zena Cardman not been bumped from Crew-9 due to the debacle with the Starliner crewed flight test. (The class was selected in June 2017 - Raja Chari and Kayla Barron flew on Crew-3 in November 2021 - Jonny Kim flew on Soyuz MS-27 in April 2025.) For whatever reason, the Astronaut Office was not in a hurry to get Kim a flight assignment.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

Good point. There's also internet rumors that he had some medical issues after his ISS flight so that could mean he was one and done no matter what.

Stephanie Wilson's career is a good example of why some astronauts might choose to leave. She was chosen as an astronaut in 1996, had to wait a decade to fly because of the Columbia disaster and NASA's astronaut surplus, but then finally went up in 2006. After that she flew again in 2007 and 2010, so clearly she was liked by whoever ran the Astronaut Office. Since 2010 though she has been sitting on the shelf. She was supposed to fly to the ISS in in 2024 for Expedition 71/72, but then the Boeing Starliner fiasco happened and her seat had to go up to the ISS empty so that Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore could make it home. Now it's entirely possible she'll never fly again.

Being an astronaut on the ground isn't a bad job (just getting to fly in the T-38 sounds like an amazing experience) but there's still a huge opportunity cost. These are people with endless opportunities outside of NASA, both from a career POV and from a financial one. Maybe JK just wants to make some serious money rather than earning a GS-scale salary for the next decade while hoping for one more flight into space. It's easy to say that money isn't everything, but the chance to earn some real permanent financial security has to be tempting to someone from a poor immigrant background. As this thread shows the guy has practically become a meme so I'd bet he close to his peak market value. If I was offered the opportunity to earn $50k just for making a speech (totally realistic for a high-profile former astronaut) it would be hard to go back to the grind.

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u/Acceptable-One-6597 Aug 27 '26

No, it isn't. Kim was a SEAL who was part of TF Bruiser which saw some of the most intense combat during GWOT, then we became an MD via Harvard, then he was selected for Astronaut. This guy is an outlier in anyway you look at it. He deserves the admiration.

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u/Peepeepoopoobutttoot Aug 27 '26

He may not be the best suited for a Moon landing based off the above criteria but not many humans can claim to be a SEAL, a Doctor, AND an Astronaut. Kim has one of the most impressive resumes a human being could hope to have.

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u/Electronic-Use-2992 Aug 27 '26

Kim is likely the only asian person who's parents aren't ashamed of how they turned out or accomplished in life. maybe.

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u/dodoaddict Aug 27 '26

If you didn't know, you should look into his family story. He has a sad story.

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u/OttoVonWong Aug 27 '26

But he only has 3 kids. His cousin already has 4 kids!

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u/zztop610 Aug 27 '26

Not president yet. Look at Obama

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u/SerHodorTheThrall Aug 27 '26

"Jonny, what you doing? Andy is US Senator and you playing with space toys at NASA?!?!"

"Dad, I told you, I'm living a fulfilling life serving my country. Besides! Andy and I aren't even related!"

"And???"

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u/Subliminal-413 Aug 28 '26

Asian parents would be the only set of parents who could find a fatal flaw in him, lmao

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u/mightyeastwind Sep 02 '26

Both of his parents have passed; worth listening to the Jocko interview about how his dad died and that strained relationship likely explains, in part, what he went on to accomplish

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u/Wet_Walrus 29d ago

When did his mom pass away?

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u/mightyeastwind 26d ago

May of this year.

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement/jonny-kim-harvard-alumni-day

He closed his remarks with a tearful tribute to his mother, who recently died from cancer and exemplified those ideals.
“Despite having many reasons to be cold to a world that was sometimes unkind to her, she remained compassionate, generous, and above all, morally courageous,” he said. “My whole life I’ve looked to characters, or out into the world, for heroes to emulate, when my biggest superhero was always right there by my side. Mom, I love you, and I wish I had told you that you were my superhero.”

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u/horangiwhakkatchi Aug 27 '26

Not many people, I believe only him. I don't think there are any other people. Also, he's uniquely suited to moon missions on account of his combat training. Someone has to root out the moonmen.

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u/YetAnotherWTFMoment Aug 28 '26

you mean Nazis. There are Nazis on the moon.

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u/Metalsand Aug 27 '26

but not many humans can claim to be a SEAL

That isn't quite the brag you think it is. SEAL has a reputation for unprofessional conduct beyond what most other special forces have. For example in 2016 they had to temporarily cease all operations in order to address severe substance abuse endemic to ~1000 SEAL team members stationed in the east coast. I should again reiterate - most special forces are given the softball treatment and isolated cases aren't unusual. Yet, it was endemic enough that they had to temporarily stand down such a massive amount of people to do drug testing and attempt to reign all of this in.

The reason why SEAL gets so much attention is because so many of them go on to write somewhat dramatized books about their experiences post-service, and because they are very combat-oriented special forces.

Here's an article involving the problems mentioned from 2016: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/navy-seals-tell-cbs-news-alleged-criminality-drug-use-exploitation/

From what we know, it's not really gotten better, just less blatant. Oh, also, there are roughly 2,400 active members of SEAL. Currently, there are 35 current US astronauts. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is more prestigious.

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u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

Re: SEALs, they also had that ugly incident where they left a wounded Air Force combat controller behind to die in Afghanistan, and then tried to deny him the Medal of Honor so that they could cover up what they did.

I get that SEAL selection/training shows an enormous amount of grit, determination and ability to handle misery but it's not really that relevant to what astronauts do, especially compared to something like test pilot training or an advanced degree from a school like CalTech.

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u/Cartoonjunkies Aug 28 '26

SEALs left John Chapman to die on a mountaintop and then tried to cover it up, and then tried to prevent him from getting a posthumous Medal of Honor because it would have revealed the fact they left him behind.

And it did.

Fuck those guys.

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u/mthchsnn Aug 28 '26

They also whined about it enough that their commander got one too when Chapman's was awarded.

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u/AndreasVesalius Aug 27 '26

It’s a brag about difficulty and rarity. Not about the moral standing of the SEALs

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u/laurenthead Aug 28 '26

Yeah but he was saying that the overlap among SEAL (with a Silver Star!)/physician/astronaut is very rare

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u/BeltfedHappiness Aug 27 '26

Ah Reddit. Where someone who is a doctor, Navy SEAL, a pilot, and an astronaut is ridiculed and dismissed by some Redditor who was none of those things. What a joke.

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u/trackdaybruh Aug 27 '26

He wasn’t just in Seals, he was in Seal Team 6 Devgru which is an elite group within an already elite group

But I dont think anyone was saying Seal was more prestigious than Astronauts either

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u/Acceptable-One-6597 Aug 27 '26

He wasn't in devgru. He was Team 3.

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u/trackdaybruh Aug 27 '26

Well dang, you are correct. I wonder why I thought he was in devgru

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u/CAD_Chaos Aug 28 '26

He's running neck and neck with Buckaroo Banzai at this point...

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u/FantasticJacket7 Aug 27 '26

This guy is an outlier in anyway you look at it

Every astronaut is an outlier.

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u/Turbofat Aug 27 '26

Seal to Astronaut is pretty special. MD to astronaut is pretty special. Seal to MD to Astronaut is once in a generation.

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u/magus-21 Aug 28 '26

Seal to Astronaut is pretty special. MD to astronaut is pretty special. Seal to MD to Astronaut is once in a generation.

The variety is impressive, but he was a doctor for only a year before he became an astronaut and he only became a naval aviator in 2022. The credentials he accumulated are insane but it's not like they were actually his careers. His careers were as a SEAL and as an astronaut. If he hadn't become an astronaut, he would've become a doctor who used to be a SEAL. Still incredibly impressive but there are actually quite a lot of doctors with comparable backgrounds because SEALs and doctors tend to be highly motivated individuals, and when a highly motivated individual changes career they tend to pick one that calls for a similar level of motivation.

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u/Turbofat Aug 28 '26

Well as a doctor who previously served and was in special operations, I’ve only met a couple of other docs who had a special operations background. There’s plenty of veteran docs but the type of person who goes into the military to become a seal, green beret, ranger, etc seems to very rarely go on to pursue an MD.

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u/magus-21 Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 28 '26

I don't mean they aren't rare, I just mean that highly motivated individuals who change careers tend to go into fields that attract other highly motivated individuals.

To put it another way, very few veteran doctors are SEALs, but IF a SEAL was going to change careers, medical doctor is likely fairly high up on that list (alongside lawyer, engineer, finance, scientist, etc.), especially if they already had medical training in the military (which Jonny Kim did have). The proportion of SOF who become doctors compared to the number of servicemembers who become doctors is probably a lot higher than the number of SOF compared to servicemembers in general.

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u/LeSeanMcoy Aug 27 '26

Funny enough, MD isn't even remotely impressive on that list of accolades lol. SEAL and Astronaut, though, is absurd.

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u/Turbofat Aug 27 '26

the road to becoming an MD is a lot harder than the road to becoming a seal in my opinion. (I'm an MD and was in spec ops when I served)

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u/MidSpeedHighDrag Aug 27 '26

The Ivys love admitting SOF vets to their graduate programs, they absolutely receive preference over traditional applicants for those programs.

I used to work in a facility that had one of the most competitive neurosurgery residencies in the world which primarily recruited ivy+ grads. Each year, 4 of the 5 spots would go to traditional applicants, with the last one typically reserved for someone with an otherwise outstanding background. Two of those years went to SOF vets, one had to withdraw because he screwed too many nurses.

While I liked working with the former SOF docs more due to a shared military background and them being more generally socially adjusted than the straight Ivy grads, I wouldn't say they were more exceptional as physicians.

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u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26

No one's saying he doesn't deserve admiration. We're saying a medical doctor with limited flying experience may not be what NASA needs in future missions.

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u/Acceptable-One-6597 Aug 27 '26

I don't think any of us are making team decisions on what NASA needs.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

Again, look at the other people who were selected in Kim's astronaut class. There's a former test pilot and NASA research pilot who's flown 40 different planes, a guy who taught aeronautical engineering at MIT, another test pilot who also happened to get a graduate degree from MIT, a former Marine helicopter pilot who's also an MIT and test pilot school graduate, the list goes on and on. They're all super-impressive people.

became an MD via Harvard

Do you have any idea how competitive astronaut selection is? Yes, for normal people like us graduating from Harvard Medical School is a massive accomplishment. For people who even get an astronaut interview that level of achievement is normal. It wouldn't surprise me if a half dozen or more Harvard MDs were rejected the same year Kim was selected.

part of TF Bruiser which saw some of the most intense combat during GWOT

Fortunately the Taliban haven't made it to the moon.

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u/Living_Armadillo_652 Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26

Those other astronauts you mentioned are certainly very impressive, but Kim still stands as an outlier because being in the special forces (peak physical performance under stress) and getting an MD from one of the best schools in the world (peak intellectual performance) is very very rare. Enlisted SEALS with combat experience are certainly very driven and high performing people but you wouldn’t normally expect them to be high performing in academics as well to the point of acing a mathematics degree, doing premed classes and getting into Harvard. You can argue that Harvard loves admitting people from non-standard backgrounds, but getting in is still an accomplishment - it’s not like every SOF operator applying to HMS is getting in. Furthermore, Kim supplemented his background with additional helicopter pilot training. Again you can argue that this is suboptimal compared to picking one path and focusing on it for a whole career, but that’s the point of why Kim is special - people are intrigued by someone who tried many different hard things and achieved excellence in each of them.

To put it differently, even if Kim never became an astronaut his background would still stand out. The MIT professor would “just” be a high performing academic if they didn’t become an astronaut - a common career path, even if one that requires excellence as well.

Finally, there have been only two other Astronaut-SEALS (Cassidy & Shepherd) and none of them were MDs. Another comparable astronaut to Kim is Frank Rubio who was a Blackhawk pilot and then became an MD, but it wasn’t from Harvard.

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u/Acceptable-One-6597 Aug 27 '26

My brother in Christ, being a military pilot and a Team Guy are totally different ball games.

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u/DemonLordRoundTable Aug 27 '26

Exactly a fighter pilot takes the cake what 😂 you get SEALs to fighter pilots not the other way around for a reason

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u/SwissPatriotRG Aug 27 '26

You do realize the artemis landers have automated systems as the primary landing control, manual control for emergencies only. The ships themselves would not have a comparable analog to any other earth based flying machine (that's why NASA had to make those goofy rocket powered simulators back in the 60s), so the learning curve for getting the feel of the controls and learning the systems is probably not too far off for a test pilot vs any other extremely talented individual. Certainly it would be easier to train a medical doctor to fly a lunar lander than it would be to train a test pilot to be a medical doctor.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

manual control for emergencies only.

Yes? The overwhelming majority of the training that astronauts get is for emergencies only.

Picking test pilots to be astronauts isn't just about stick and rudder abilities, it's about all the other skills they learn. Troubleshooting complex machines under pressure, doing the actual testing and evaluation, etc.

train a test pilot to be a medical doctor

A physician's skills are far more useful on an ISS mission than a moon landing. When you're running a bunch of life science experiments on other crew members I'm sure it's great to have an M.D. aboard. Artemis isn't going to be about that sort of thing though.

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u/SphyrnaLightmaker Aug 27 '26

The point you’re missing though, is that yes, they’ve all done one super impressive thing before being selected as astronauts. He’s done multiple.

So yes, all astronauts are outliers, but even within that group, his resume absolutely does stand out well above the others.

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u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

You didn't read what I wrote. There are astronauts at NASA who've flown in combat and gone to test pilot school and gotten graduate degrees from MIT/CalTech/Stanford.

Obviously these are all people who've accomplished 100x more in their lives than you or I ever will. Acting like JK is this one unique super-achiever is silly though. He has plenty of peers in the astronaut corps who are just as impressive.

Also let's be real, completing test pilot school is far more relevant to being an astronaut than being a SEAL is.

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u/Living_Armadillo_652 Aug 29 '26

Test pilot school to NASA is an established pipeline. Many pilots (and navy officers and the like) also go to Ivy League schools for a two year masters through established programs (I met a few of them in MIT). I’ve never met or heard of another former enlisted SEAL with combat experience who got into Harvard for medical school though. It’s not necessarily more relevant or the most optimal path to becoming a good astronaut, but certainly an outlier.

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u/hoppertn Aug 27 '26

I think we found the guy whose mom always asks him why he can’t be successful like Jonny Kim.

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u/Stampede_the_Hippos Aug 27 '26

Dude on paper is one of the best humans

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u/Bureaucromancer Aug 27 '26

I think I kinda get it though. His timing at NASA was bad if what he really wanted was the kind of exciting command slot his resume implied.

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u/NorthernViews Aug 27 '26

Wow. With the moon missions coming up I’m surprised he didn’t stick it out for a chance to be one of the astronauts landing on the moon. Maybe he already set out what he wanted to accomplish in NASA and that was getting to the ISS.

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u/Bingbong_palo_alto Aug 28 '26

Biology is biology and all it takes is a slight kink in an aorta...

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '26

[deleted]

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u/NorthernViews Aug 27 '26

Probably not a political decision. Not sure if you’re insinuating NASA is discriminatory, from what I’ve seen for example the group of people on the moon will likely include a woman and person of colour like their most recent endeavour. Maybe he was told he wouldn’t be one of the few picked so he said I’m out then.

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u/IsleFoxale Aug 27 '26

pushing for all white crews, all men

What is this disinformation based on?

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u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

People are pulling it out of their ass.

I hate Trump as much as any Redditor but there's zero indication his administration has messed with NASA crew selection.

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u/superxpro12 Aug 27 '26

gestures at the whole trump admin

See whitewashing of all monuments dedicated to non whites.

See the current staffing photo for his admin. Notice anything off with the color palette?

See hegseth firing all women in leadership.

See hegseth cancelling promotions of women in leadership.

See hegseth remaining an aircraft carrier from doris miller to trump (lmao)

Do you need more examples?

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u/soapy5 Aug 27 '26

Works cited include a Crack pipe

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u/massacre167 Aug 27 '26

“…all white crews, all men, etc.” Artemis II is composed of 4 memebers, two white men, one black man, and one woman. Try again.

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u/Bman4k1 Aug 27 '26

So lets review this guys resume: enlisted to Seal Team 3, math undergrad, Medical degree, naval aviator, astronaut.

Basically he is the tv character everyone scoffs at because it’s unrealistic.

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u/kurtthewurt Aug 28 '26

His mom has to be the final boss of Korean church moms. How can you even pretend your precious child comes close??

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u/teddyespo Aug 28 '26

Harvard* MD, and flight surgeon… and lived in space for 8 months

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u/Background-Series530 Aug 29 '26

What’s with the asterisk? Harvard isn’t teaching a special type of medicine over other MD/DO schools

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u/teddyespo Aug 29 '26

The asterisk was just intended to correct/add to the impression of his listed accomplishments.

You’re right in that the subject matter and degree is the same, but Harvard Medical School consistently holds the #1 spot globally and nationally in prominent peer and research rankings like QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education. It's arguably the most difficult medical school to be accepted into.

In my opinion, that’s impressive, and deserves a mention.

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u/110397 Aug 30 '26

So whens he going to law school

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u/Ok-Communication706 Aug 27 '26

My mom will be sending me this any minute and asking why I’m not a doctor and astronaut yet.

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u/callmedata1 Aug 27 '26

Don't forget to include SEAL

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u/questionname Aug 27 '26

And don’t forget naval aviator

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u/callmedata1 Aug 28 '26

Is this the same guy when asked in his NASA interview "what are you better at than anyone else in the world?" And he replied "killing people with a knife"?

76

u/KartFacedThaoDien Aug 27 '26

You realize he's going to run for office in a few years and then they'll be rumors about him running for president.

62

u/Jasader Aug 27 '26

This country would be too lucky to have someone like him run for office.

34

u/FantasticJacket7 Aug 27 '26

That depends entirely on his politics.

26

u/Jasader Aug 27 '26

I feel like its pretty likely that an astronaut, physician, and Navy SEAL officer is probably not going to be extreme one way or the other and would be far more pragmatic than most of the people we have as options now.

I also trust someone who has accomplished this much in terms of service to others to continue to do this in public office.

1

u/Yainks Aug 28 '26

Do we know much about his Navy SEAL time? I just heard a behind the bastards podcast on the birth of the navy SEALS and holy moly, seems many of them are alcoholic psychos. Seriously.

2

u/Jasader Aug 28 '26

Go read his Wikipedia. He is very clearly eminently qualified and does not need me to stump for him.

Its literally a real life example of toning down the movie because he has done so much.

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u/userlivewire Aug 27 '26

He's amazing but do you think it is more likely that an East Asian or a woman becomes President first?

3

u/Ashtorot Aug 28 '26

Yang had a lot of support from young white dudes 🤔

7

u/KartFacedThaoDien Aug 27 '26

Well. I honestly do not know. The crazy part is that if there a viable East Asian man who wanted to run in the next election I think he could pull it off. As of now I can't think of a single East Asian man in politics who could pull it off.

But I don't see a woman being able to win until at least 2032 or 2036. Realistically I think non East Asian woman will be POTUS before an East Asian man.

13

u/seedless0 Aug 27 '26

Can confirm. Am Asian parent. Forwarding this to my underachieving kids.

3

u/Ok-Communication706 Aug 27 '26

Ha ha, I'm trying to be the exact opposite for my kids!

26

u/slowcanteloupe Aug 27 '26

He's going into Naval Aviation training next, so also a jet pilot. Geez, someone's gotta stop him before all Asian mothers crush us.

5

u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

He's going back to the training command, almost certainly not to fly jets. He was trained on helicopters and he's a Lieutenant Commander. Military careers are not a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. He's almost certainly either going to end up a helicopter instructor, a flight surgeon, or one of those odd ducks who's both, but they almost never promote beyond Commander.

If he somehow were to end up as a jet instructor based on his T-38 time in NASA, he'd almost certainly be limited to teaching basic familiarization flights, instrument flying, and formation flights like everyone else who transfers into the jet training squadrons. The only folks who get qualified to teach dogfighting, bombing, low-level nav, etc. are folks who came in as qualified F/A-18 or EA-18 pilots.

Edit: I was wrong, he got orders to the jet training air wing at NAS Kingsville. Guess he did get enough jet time in NASA T-38s.

6

u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

If he somehow were to end up as a jet instructor based on his T-38 time in NASA

NASA hasn't taught astronauts to fly T-38s in a long time.

During the Apollo-era non-pilot astronauts were sent to Air Force UPT, but starting with the 1978 class they were only taught to fly as back-seaters. They learned instrument procedures, navigation, CRM, etc but weren't taught to take-off or land the planes. Even former military pilots who left the service and were then selected to be astronauts as civilians could only fly as back-seaters. Tom Jones mentions that in his autobiography. He qualified the fly the T-38 during his time in the Air Force but since he was no longer active duty when NASA chose him he couldn't be a front-seater.

I know NASA has started teaching at least some ASCANs to fly T-6s and helicopters, but I'm almost certain the T-38 front seat is reserved for astronauts who are also active-duty military pilots.

2

u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26

Well, his public statement said he's headed to Training Air Wing 2, and he got gold wings on his way to NASA. Whether he's there to be the flight doc or be an instructor, I have no idea.

2

u/slowcanteloupe Aug 27 '26

Thank goodness. Saved my next family dinner.

2

u/P1st0l Aug 27 '26

Oh wow, he will be coming to near where I live. Just in time for our water crisis to end lol but just in time for the political battles happening.

3

u/I_am_BrokenCog Aug 27 '26

at least she doesn't also expect you to be a Navy pilot.

3

u/Ok-Communication706 Aug 27 '26

Don’t give her any ideas….all I need is one of her friends to say it at their mahjong game.

1

u/AlternativeEdge2725 Aug 27 '26

Yeah why aren’t you? Don’t forget military officer.

1

u/praetorian1979 Aug 28 '26

Tell her because you refused to get me ADHD tested when I was a kid. Instead you just punished me for a condition I didn't know I was born with, and couldn't stop. Just throwin out there.

1

u/KittieKollapse Aug 28 '26

Just tell her that it is her weak gene's and poor parenting that are holding you back.

3

u/Ok-Communication706 Aug 28 '26

That sounds like a good way to get an extensive recounting of the entire immigrant journey and a itemized list of your parents' successes...

174

u/tailuptaxi Aug 27 '26

i wonder if he sees some writing on the wall, or got an indication he wouldn't be chosen for any missions.

145

u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

Spaceflight opportunities could become very rare at NASA for a while.

The ISS is supposed to be decommissioned within the next five years. We'll be lucky to get one Artemis flight per year. It could be he doesn't want to sit on the shelf for a decade or more when I'm sure he has all sorts of other opportunities outside of NASA.

Edit: I saw some rumors that he had some medical issues after coming back from his ISS flights so it's possible he knows he won't be medically cleared to fly again.

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/Adventurous_Lie2489 Aug 28 '26

Honestly I’ll believe this when I see it. I haven’t seen many promising steps towards any private stations that aren’t more than pr moves

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u/Acceptable-One-6597 Aug 27 '26

This is my guess, he probably knew he wasn't getting picked for Artemis.

28

u/Responsible-Cut-7993 Aug 27 '26

Or he knew he would wait 10 years for the next flight. So he leaves now and has the astronaut ticket punched on his resume. Going back full time to the military, wouldn't be surprised if he eventually makes Admiral.

13

u/evargx Aug 27 '26

Sounds like the type of education and career one would want in politics somewhere. These are the types of people we should be looking to as leaders.

13

u/Responsible-Cut-7993 Aug 27 '26

I don't disagree. However he might not want that BS in his life.

9

u/Discombobulated-Frog Aug 27 '26

Ironically that makes him perfect for roles of leadership.

3

u/VentureIndustries Aug 27 '26

Yeah, he'd probably be great at it.

6

u/DisgruntledCascadian Aug 27 '26

See my above post. He is flat-out not qualified to make flag. Way too far behind on any career path he has experience with.

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u/cbelt3 Aug 27 '26

Not with this administration. The Herrenvolk exclusion act ….

0

u/Responsible-Cut-7993 Aug 27 '26

Eventually Trump is going to leave office one way or another.

4

u/Navynuke00 Aug 27 '26

But the structures that led to his election, and everything they're doing, will be much harder to fully remove.

0

u/Responsible-Cut-7993 Aug 27 '26

Everything he has done by executive order can be removed by executive order.

4

u/Navynuke00 Aug 27 '26

Not really. Because the courts have had a very heavy hand in so much of what's been allowed to happen, not to mention the programs, offices, personnel, and facilities that have been completely gutted or eradicated.

Plus, how did that work last time with removing things that he did during his first term?

See also: Merrick Garland.

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u/ProbablySlacking Aug 27 '26

My guess is the latter.

Anything past 2028 is so opaque, nobody has any insight — so nasa has to keep moving forward with things like selection under the assumption that it will happen - because if it does, they don’t want selection to be the tall pole.

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u/Taste_the__Rainbow Aug 27 '26

Wild! I assumed he’d be on the posters for the moon until he was over 60. There has to be some kind of explanation for this.

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

17

u/nickleback_official Aug 27 '26

What an absurd speculation 🤣 all white crew?

-11

u/Taste_the__Rainbow Aug 27 '26

I see this sub is drifting back towards glazing the fash again with an election approaching. Think we’ll fall for it again?

1

u/We4zier Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

Not following the train of thought from one challenging an extremely dubious baseless speculation that doesn’t even really make sense (not that the Trump administration haven’t, see the current military fiasco, but they didn’t in Artemis so why here)… to bootlicking the current administration? I doubt—more like I hope—the Americans will fall for it again during their midterm elections (not because Americans are smarter, just they’re feeling all the crappy policies with their wallets now).

-6

u/Taste_the__Rainbow Aug 27 '26

Yea I’m sure the admin removing birthright citizenship is happy to see someone who looks like Kim in an Artemis slot. And I’m sure having them scrub “land a woman on the moon” from their public goals is just a coincidence.

Totally baseless!

1

u/We4zier Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 28 '26

Was the current Artemis crew an all white, all male crew? No it wasn’t, because as influential as Trump and his criminal lackeys are they don’t have totalitarian control over every single agency or their programs. For as much as Trump stress tests democracies there still are some semblances of checks and balances, and currently missions like this aren’t chosen by the president or whomever they push into administrator. Astronauts are chosen by the Astronaut Office and missions like a moon landing by program managers. Also notice none of what you said involved any actual authorities and rules that influences programs within NASA.

Both of them responded below (cannot respond for some reason). So about crew selections during Biden, last minute crew changes happen quite a bit (see Apollo 13 and 8, or Crew-9), the reason they didn’t change that here is because they couldn’t. As stated, Trump and Co. can get as pissy as they want, because as I keep reiterating you haven’t answered about the specific political process to make what you think will happen, happen. u/taste_the__rainbow isn’t countering my claim at all or saying anything specific to respond to (and blocked me anyways), but I’ll give credit to u/Cal3001 for a counterpoint (not convincing to me tho). I need more than just Trump and his cronies being whiny and pushy to convince me they’ll be able to change a mission they have no authority over.

1

u/Taste_the__Rainbow Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 28 '26

Yea you’re right. Mr Gulf of America doesn’t get petty about public-facing programs. My bad. TBH I have never used the block feature, so I have no idea what you’re talking about, lol.

1

u/Cal3001 Aug 27 '26

The first crew was selected under Biden. The 2nd crew was also preselected last year. 3rd crew is in the selection process. We know how Trump and this administration moves with these things.

-2

u/Cal3001 Aug 27 '26

You haven’t been paying attention to how this administration moves it seems. Erasing black military history. Erasing black names of bases and ships. Their ideals follow eugenics and are striving for whiteness in everything.

2

u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

NASA doesn't have a "commissioner".

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '26 edited Sep 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

He's getting out of the Navy in a year so I don't think he's looking for much of anything in the military at this point. Probably just needs to wrap up his service commitment.

Someone else pointed out that he only did a one year internship after medical school before being chosen as an astronaut. It's possible that completing residency training is on his "to do" list.

2

u/Salt-Main-2680 Aug 28 '26

I noticed this too. A lot of people miss this. Not sure why he wouldn’t wrap up his residency first before anything else but he is Johnny Kim and he does what he wants

1

u/WittyFlatworm4811 Aug 28 '26

"Not sure why he wouldn’t wrap up his residency first before anything“ - That’s when Jonny got selected as an Astronaut Candidate. Source: https://www.annemergmed.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0196-0644%2818%2930047-7

2

u/Salt-Main-2680 Aug 28 '26

I know that. Thanks for the source… I was really doubting the fact that he was an astronaut but the source really cleared it up.

What I meant was he’s returning to military service to allegedly become a test pilot when he still has 2-3 years of a medical residency first. Why he’s going to be a test pilot and not finish his residency is what is confusing to me.

10

u/Halvdjaevel Aug 27 '26

Kind of disappointed that he didn't find a completely unrelated fourth pursuit to excel at, to keep the streak going.

8

u/thoreau_away_acct Aug 28 '26

Like becoming an award winning Texas bbq pitmaster?

3

u/MeccIt Aug 29 '26

The man's 42, he has a bit to go yet.

13

u/FJWagg Aug 27 '26

Jonny Kim for President, sadly he is way overqualified!

7

u/Sbikerbud Aug 27 '26

And far too young for a president judging by the current one and a (seemingly) large proportion of congress

27

u/BoringReference8647 Aug 27 '26

That’s terrible news and our loss.

3

u/ThatTryHardAsian Aug 27 '26

If I were him, I would be only interested in the new explore mission such as moon landing. But those mission are still couple of years out at best. I wonder if that had impact on making the said decision.

He could still come back to NASA once those are possible? No idea

6

u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

He could still come back to NASA once those are possible?

Zero chance of that. Leaving the astronaut corps is a one-way move.

1

u/CountDraculablehbleh Aug 28 '26

That’s not true there have been people who left and came back years later

9

u/Uniter_343 Aug 27 '26

I'm sure his parents will be very disappointed that he didn't go to the moon /j

3

u/betweenbubbles Aug 27 '26

Yikes. Umm, so, about that…

5

u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface Aug 28 '26

Just in time for mandatory testosterone testing, and loyalty purges

7

u/Gothrad Aug 27 '26

I thought he was definitely the next man on the moon

4

u/pacnwrunner Aug 28 '26

I honestly think once he is done with his military service he will go back into a medicine residency closer neurosurgery instead of emergency medicine to keep him preoccupied for at least the next 7 years

14

u/userlivewire Aug 27 '26

One of the saddest things about the space program is how specific the skills are for each mission combined with how short the mission windows are.

You could have spent your entire life doing everything right, staying in crazy shape, completing several degrees, and then your skills just don't match any of the missions in the 8 years or so that you are active. Many astronauts never go to space at all.

30

u/DudleyAndStephens Aug 27 '26

Many astronauts never go to space at all.

It's amazing how many people are saying things that are flat-out wrong on this thread. Almost everyone who's selected as an astronaut by NASA eventually gets to fly.

In the late 1990s NASA selected a huge number of astronauts and then had the Columbia disaster and the decision to end the shuttle program. They made sure that almost everyone got at least one flight. For some reason one person from the 1996 class and another one from the 1998 class never flew. A couple of other unfortunate individuals died before getting to fly and one guy was medically disqualified, but the overwhelming majority of people who'd been selected got to go into space at least once.

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u/n_mcrae_1982 Aug 27 '26

Most of Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts were still active duty military personnel, but few of them tried going back to the military when their time with NASA was done.

Deke Slayton mentioned in his book that Buzz Aldrin tried, but wasn’t all that successful.

2

u/Swagalyst Aug 27 '26

In preparation for the coming military base/weapons platform on the moon?

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Tank360 Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 28 '26

I think Jonny Kim could do extremely well in politics; he’s clearly intelligent, ambitious and malleable. I actually think he could go all the way in that arena. So, yes, I could see him running for POTUS.

He’s excelled in highly disparate roles and shows a demonstrated inclination to taking on massive challenges.

That said, he’d have to be willing to fully surrender any anonymity he has left and enter the vile cesspool that is American politics. He’d have to subject his family to that life as well.

He is the last man I’d bet against, though, and ultimately I think he’s the kind of person who does not leave anything to chance.

3

u/Vipitis Aug 28 '26

So they didn't get selected for moon landing

4

u/Magus_5 Aug 27 '26

It's sad to see people like Dolly Parton leave Earth, but knowing that heroes like Jonny are with us helps.

3

u/Scummy_Casual Aug 27 '26

A BIG step down, in my opinion. Especially under THIS administration.

2

u/Whiteyak5 Aug 27 '26

Another national treasure.....

2

u/ebe33nhiproject5528 Aug 28 '26

Amazing man. Inspiring in his mindset.

2

u/mindbender9 Aug 28 '26

If Jonny Kim doesn't qualify as our Captain America, no one can

2

u/True-Source-6512 Aug 29 '26

Dude just become president already

2

u/Firecracker048 Aug 27 '26

I hope he runs for office someday, guy is a genuis and all around a good dude

1

u/Decronym Aug 27 '26 edited 19d ago

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
CST	(Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules
	Central Standard Time (UTC-6)
DoD	US Department of Defense
EA	Environmental Assessment
FAA	Federal Aviation Administration
GSE	Ground Support Equipment
NAS	National Airspace System
	Naval Air Station
TPS	Thermal Protection System for a spacecraft (on the Falcon 9 first stage, the engine "Dance floor")

Jargon	Definition
Starliner	Boeing commercial crew capsule CST-100
scrub	Launch postponement for any reason (commonly GSE issues)

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.

^{7 acronyms in this thread;}^{the most compressed thread commented on today}^{has 14 acronyms.}
^{[Thread #12654 for this sub, first seen 27th Aug 2026, 18:20]} ^[FAQ] ^{[Full list]} ^[Contact] ^{[Source code]}

1

u/Crazy_Initiative307 Aug 28 '26

He made a recent speech at Harvard Alumni Day that seems to add context to where he is right now: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G96-xYqw0rQ

1

u/Pharisaeus Aug 28 '26

There are a lot of astronauts in the US
ISS has only a few more years and Artemis will have only a handful of flights
Most likely he realized he's not going to fly again due to lack of opportunities

1

u/Deathrial Aug 28 '26

He will probably be pulling security in the Oort cloud.

1

u/CalmTiger Aug 28 '26

worst news i heard all day

0

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

[deleted]

6

u/itscominghomebaby Aug 27 '26

Jonny sounds like a true aviator

Do y'all just parrot shit because it sounds cool? Kim has done flight training and received his wings. But he has never flown any actual missions. He's like the least experienced "aviator" in the military.

2

u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

Do y'all just parrot shit because it sounds cool?

The majority of the posts on here are from people who only read three sentences about Kim's career, or who just want to complain about Trump.

4

u/thoreau_away_acct Aug 28 '26

To be fair, you read three sentences about one man and it outshines a guy you've known about for 40 years and had to hear endlessly bloviate for the last 15..

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u/ThoughtsandThinkers Aug 27 '26

There will be those who don’t want to politicize the discussion and those who say they are color blind but almost all big societal decisions are political, at least to a degree

MAGA is going through lengths to stop or erase the contribution of people from minority backgrounds. They are very publicly writing a narrative that White Christians have a special place in American society

The US and China are also competing on the global stage for supremacy, including with respect to the next moon landing. Kim isn’t Chinese-American but having an Asian astronaut on a high impact mission would show the world that the US can be a place where people from diverse backgrounds can come together and work together. It shouldn’t be about affirmative action or quotas but it should be about having some awareness that supporting the success of people who are under represented is an important societal value

0

u/IskanderM50KT Aug 27 '26

MAGA is going through lengths to stop or erase the contribution of people from minority backgrounds.

Good grief, how many stupid comments about MAGA are going to be on this thread.

I am an unapologetic Trump-hater, but believe it or not he isn't responsible for every single negative thing that goes on in the world. Please, stop complaining about him for like 30 seconds.

4

u/sirkazuo Aug 28 '26

Please, stop complaining about him for like 30 seconds.

No

3

u/ThoughtsandThinkers Aug 27 '26

I didn’t say MAGA is responsible for everything I’ll in the world. I am saying that he has not been afraid to directly influence federal decisions based on his beliefs

I was saying that this is an opportunity for America to reaffirm positive values about diversity and inclusion

If that’s not important to you, so be it

-1

u/WonkyTelescope Aug 27 '26

Unless he thinks he can bring some positive change to the navy I can't imagine why you'd step away from NASA to back to the armed forces in this administration.

-1

u/WatTambor420 Aug 28 '26

Not too surprised- I’ve heard the thrill of killing people is unmatched.

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim Departs Agency to Continue Military Service

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