Two Russian astronauts docking space stations with rocket carrying NASA astronaut Johnny Kim

Former Navy Seal Johnny Kim, a Harvard Medical School graduate and now a NASA astronaut, exploding with two astronauts on a Russian Soyuz rocket early on Tuesday, travelling to dock the picture three hours after lift-off.

Along with veteran commander Sergei Rizikov (50), rookie Cosmonaut Alexei Zubritsky (32) is lined up on the left, Kim (41/73S ferry ship) on the right and on the right, and Soyuz MS-27/73S ferry ship away from Kazakhstan’s am am am am am a baikonur cosmodrome

“The crew feels good, everything is nominal,” Ryzhikov regularly assured the Russian flight controller as the rocket climbed towards orbit.

After 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the third stage engine of the Soyuz 2.1A rocket shut down, the crew ship was released, followed by the deployment of two solar panels and navigation antennas.

The ferry vessel then ran an automated rendezvous at the space station, moving to dock into the multi-port Prichal module at 4:57am as the two spacecraft sailed 260 miles into western Russia.

“Congratulations, Sergei, happy to arrive at the International Space Station,” Russia’s mission control was radio. After a massive leak check and checking the airtight seal, the hatch was opened at 7:28am, allowing Rizikov, Zubritsky and Kim to float at the station.

They were welcomed by Soyuz MS-26/72S crew members Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and NASA Astronaut Donald Pettit, SpaceX Crew 10 Commander Anne McClain, NASA ASTRONAUT NICHOLE AYERES, Japanese astronauts Takui Onysia and Cosmonate Kirill Pascu.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and being here was an honor,” Kim told the flight controller during a traditional post-docking video conference.

Ryzhikov, Zubritsky and Kim replace Ovchinin, Vagner and Pettit. It was released on ISS on September 11th He then concludes his 219-day space stay with a plan to return to Earth on April 19th, in a ride in his own Soyuz.

Crew 10 flyers, Released on March 14threplaced by nine predecessors – Nick Hague, astronauts Alexander Golbunov, Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams – I returned to Earth on March 18th.

Crews at the revolving space station typically carry out mission tours for an average of six months on board the laboratory complex. But starting with Kim’s flight, the Russians are increasing the soybean period to eight months, collecting more data on the impact of long-term stays in space.

Therefore, it is expected that Ryzhikov, Zubritsky and Kim will return to Earth around December 9th.

In a pre-flight interview with CBS News, Jonathan Yong “Johnny” Kim, the son of a South Korean immigrant and father of three, said he first heard of the Navy seal when he was 16 years old. He eventually joined the elite corps and took part in over 100 combat operations as a member of the Seal Team 3 to support Operation Iraq’s Freedom.

“For me, it is the strongest calling I have ever had in my life,” he said. “I had an additional calling in my life, but it was really the first calling that I had to be a seal I remember for the rest of my life, because it was the first time I had felt a purpose and had a dream.”

That dream was to serve as a warrior.

“At the time I had a really narrow focus on it,” he said. “But for me, warriors are people who are continually pursuing excellence in their craft. It doesn’t have to be combat. It could be a drug. It could be like an astronaut at NASA. It’s in politics.

“But it’s someone who’s passionate and pursues continuous excellence, and the reason it resonated with me so well is because it was everything I wasn’t in the time, but because I wanted to be.”

Kim said there were “awful moments” in the battle, saying, “I’ve really burned out. I’ve been so burned out from war, from war and loss… I needed a way to continue serving.

Already a veteran combat medic, Kim was accepted at Harvard Medical School. Along the way, he said, he “maybe went a little extreme to ensure that previous successes didn’t set themselves up for the future.”

“The people I worked with in the hospital assured me that I had never known I was a seal before. I wanted patients, so I wanted my colleagues to rely on me, be skilled and consider me a good doctor.

Later, as he was gathering up medical schools to prepare for a residency, Kim became a self-proclaimed “space nerd” after seeing the first test flight of NASA’s Orion Measurement on YouTube in 2014. He met Scott Paradinski, a doctor and former astronaut.

Of the 18,000 applications for the class of 2017, NASA selected 12 including Kim.

He said learning the Russians was the most challenging aspect of training to fly on the Soyuz, but added that his crew spoke great English and did not get in the way to welcome him.

“We’re friends, so we’re very professional,” Kim said. “We work well together. …I ate Alexei and Sergei for dinner, but they did the same for me. So our relationship is personal and there is a lot of trust and friendship there.

As for being assigned to Soyuz flights, Kim said he was happy to fly with the Russians, in contrast to the wider touchscreen equipped SpaceX Crew Dragon, in a vehicle that has been around for decades.

“I love technology (but) sometimes I have to say something about reliability, or like, ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,'” he said. “The amount of tests and the reliability that Soyuz has shown over decades is outstanding and absolutely praised.”

Kim added that while on the station, he hopes to venture outside the lab for the spaceship at one point, but is happy to serve any abilities.

“Modern astronauts are the jack of all trades,” he told CBS News. “You know, we train to do spacecraft. We train to support space walks, we train to do research. One day it could be plumbers or mechanics. Technicians may be repairing radios or pipetting various liquids into other liquids for research.

“So whatever the demands a space station needs at once, it’s like all of the above.”

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