PHAM TUAN: Southeast Asia’s First Man in Space
The great Phạm Tuân deserves perennial recognition. And this is BISEAN’s contribution to continuously appreciate the Heroes of Our Region.
Vietnam’s pride, Southeast Asia’s honor and Asia’s first man in space.
Phạm Tuân was born in Quoc Tuan, Vietnam. He joined the Vietnam People's Air Force in 1965 and actually fought in live air-combat against America’s bests (?) in the Vietnam War till 1975. He also holds the distinction of “the only pilot in the World to ever shoot down a B-52 bomber.” *super cool!* -- although America diligently denied this. *Yeah, right. They even denied they lost the war! Haha!*
After he became a Major General and a research engineer for the USSR-Vietnam Space Program, he was selected (with another Soviet cosmonaut) to be sent on a space mission on board Soyuz37 on 23 July 1980 at Baikonur, USSR.
Our hero was in space for 7 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes and completed 142 orbits before going back to Earth on 31 July 1980. He did a lot of scientific experiments up there.
Looking at his photo (above) in his prime, Mr. Phạm is a very handsome fella indeed! And the photo (right) is, more or less, how he looks like today – still very handsome and dignified. *Mr. Phạm, you are my idol! I’m sure a lot of girls are running after you! Woohoo!”*
Mr. Phạm was married in 1975 and has 2 kids. He is now a Lieutenant General -- Head of the General Department of Defense Industry of the Ministry of Defense, and a member of the Vietnam National Assembly.
After he became a Major General and a research engineer for the USSR-Vietnam Space Program, he was selected (with another Soviet cosmonaut) to be sent on a space mission on board Soyuz37 on 23 July 1980 at Baikonur, USSR.Our hero was in space for 7 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes and completed 142 orbits before going back to Earth on 31 July 1980. He did a lot of scientific experiments up there.
Looking at his photo (above) in his prime, Mr. Phạm is a very handsome fella indeed! And the photo (right) is, more or less, how he looks like today – still very handsome and dignified. *Mr. Phạm, you are my idol! I’m sure a lot of girls are running after you! Woohoo!”*Mr. Phạm was married in 1975 and has 2 kids. He is now a Lieutenant General -- Head of the General Department of Defense Industry of the Ministry of Defense, and a member of the Vietnam National Assembly.
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Related Article: Malaysia’s First Man in Space
*** Author’s trivia: Pisanu’s 3rd son was named “Marcus Pham Tuan” nicknamed “P.T.” in honor of Mr. Phạm.
6 Comments:
that is one COOL hero! thanks for the post!
this is a great info... i thought the two Malaysians are our first Southeast Asian men in space...
Likey post. Thanks for this.
*sigh* what a hero! If I'm a girl I'd marry this guy right away...
msia the dr sheikh muzafar can be called as an astronought? mayb because he went to outerspace ermmm or just space visitor?
something most malaysians doubt
*kapten dr faiz is better than him for me as dr faiz is from military where msia trade oil palms with sukhoi but doc skeikh was choosen maybe because he came from influential n political family :-(
SAMs operated by Russian Technicians in Hanoi that helps to shot down B-52 or other US's aircraft during Viet Nam war.
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