Two AAPI astronauts shoot for the moon ... or Mars

NASA PHOTOS

New astronauts Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, left, and Jonny Kim.

Among the United States' newest astronauts are two Asian Americans: Korean American Jonny Kim and Indian American Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari.

The two Asian Americans were among the 11 new NASA graduates who have successfully completed their over two years of basic astronaut training and are all set to be part of space agency's future missions to the International Space Station, the moon and Mars.

The 11 were selected from the program from 18,000 applicants in 2017 after the US space agency announced its Artimis program.

"2020 will mark the return of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, and will be an important year of progress for our Artemis program and missions to the Moon and beyond," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine last week at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Chari, the Indian American US Air Force colonel, earned a master's degree in aeronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland.

Chari 41, served as the commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron and the director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Inspired by his father Srinivas Chari, who came to US at a young age from Hyderabad, for engineering degree, with the goal of getting higher education. 

The Milwaukee-born Chari earned a bachelor’s degree in Astronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. Earned a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. Graduated from US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.Kim, 35, is the first Korean American to complete the astronaut program. A graduate of the Harvard Medical School, Kim is also a US Navy Seal.

"My parents were South Korean immigrants who came to America in the early 80s for the hope of a better life for their children," Kim said in a 2017 interview with NASA.

Graduating from Harvard Medical School and being a part of the Navy SEALs must not have been enough accomplishments for Jonny Kim. 

After he graduated high school in Los Angeles, Kim joined the Navy as a Seaman recruit, which eventually led him to obtain the elite military status of a Navy SEAL. He served as a combat medic, sniper, and navigator on more than 100 combat operations across two deployments to the Middle East, NASA said.

At the time of his astronaut selection in June 2017, Kim was a resident physician in emergency medicine with Partners Healthcare at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Kim remains on active duty as a Navy Lieutenant at NASA.

"These individuals represent the best of America, and what an incredible time for them to join our astronaut corps," Bridenstine said.