NASA astronaut Johnny Kim and two Russian crew members successfully completed the International Space Station on Tuesday (April 8, 2025).
A planned Soyuz booster rocket was lifted from a launch facility in Baikonur, covered in Russia in Kazakhstan, and the Soyuz MS-27 got the trio back on track. They are ready to dock into the station just three hours later.
Kim, Russians Sergei Rizikov and Alexei Zubritsky will spend around eight months at the front post base in the space.
NASA said Kim will conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations to prepare crews for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. Originally from Los Angeles, Kim is Commander Li in the US Navy and is a double-designated naval aviator and flight surgeon.
Kim, Rizikov and Zubritsky will join the space exits of NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, astronauts Onish of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russian astronauts Alexy Obchinin, Ivan Virgin and Kirill Peskov.