Everything about Pham Tuan totally explained
Phạm Tuân,
Hero of the Soviet Union (born
February 14,
1947) was the first
Vietnamese
cosmonaut and by extension, he was also the first Asian (excluding Russia) in space.
Phạm Tuân was born in
Quoc Tuan,
Thái Bình province in northern Vietnam. He joined the VPAF, or
Vietnam People's Air Force in 1965 to be later commissioned as a combat officer, fighting in the
Vietnam War against US fighter jets from then onwards until 1975.
On the night of
December 27,
1972, he's claimed to have shot down a United States
B-52 bomber over Hanoi while flying a
MiG-21, becoming the first and only pilot ever to do so. The USAF doesn't acknowledge the claim, reporting that all B-52s lost during the Vietnam War were shot down by
Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs). For his military exploits, Phạm Tuân received a number of high State distinctions including the
Ho Chi Minh Order. He was also given the
Order of Lenin and the rare honour of being one of the few foreigners to be awarded the title “
Hero of the Soviet Union”.
He eventually rose to the rank of
Major General in the VPAF before eventually training to be a research engineer with the budding USSR-Vietnamese Space program.
He was selected as part of the sixth international crew for the
Intercosmos programme on
April 1 1979. His backup cosmonaut was to be
Bùi Thanh Liêm.
Phạm, along with
Soviet cosmonaut
Viktor Gorbatko, was launched from
Baikonur Cosmodrome on
July 23,
1980, on board
Soyuz 37. In the traditional Vietnamese
lunar calendar, this was the 12th day of the 6th month, Year of the Monkey [CanhThan]. They were to service the
Salyut 6 station.
During his time in orbit, Phạm performed experiments on the
melting of mineral samples in
microgravity. He also carried out plant experiments on
azolla. Phạm Tuân also photographed Vietnam from orbit for
mapping purposes.
Phạm was in space for 7
days, 20
hours and 42
minutes. He completed 142
orbits, and was recovered on
July 31,
1980.
He is married and has two children (a daughter born 1976 and a son born 198?). He is now a
Lieutenant General, Head of the General Department of Defence Industry of the Ministry of Defence, and a member of the Vietnam National Assembly.
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