MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is one of only three NASA missions currently in operation around Mars, and one of five spacecraft serving as a communications relay for the space agency's rover missions on the Martian surface.

Kim officially became an astronaut in 2017. Expedition 72 and Expedition 73 marked Kim’s first visit to the ISS, where he served as a flight engineer and flight surgeon for eight months while helping to conduct a number of scientific and technological research projects.