The Prime Minister of Mongolia, Zandan Shatar Gombojav, held a meeting with Pham Tuan, a fighter pilot of the Vietnam Air Force, who became the first Asian astronaut and is a Hero of the Soviet Union and the People's Armed Forces of Vietnam.
During the meeting, Lieutenant General Pham Tuan thanked Prime Minister Zandan Shatar for the warm welcome and expressed his closeness to Mongolia. He noted that his first visit to this country took place in 1965, and he has visited it several times, including the moment when he observed it from space. Pham Tuan also expressed his joy at participating in the celebration of the 45th anniversary of Mongolia's first manned space flight.
In turn, the Prime Minister emphasized the significance of the meeting with Pham Tuan, who made his flight in 1980 and became not only a hero of Vietnam but also an important figure for all of Asia. He stressed that the connection between the two heroes symbolizes the friendship between Mongolia and Vietnam, which inspires further cooperation.
Pham Tuan is participating in an international scientific conference dedicated to space technologies titled "Space Cooperation," timed to the 45th anniversary of Mongolia's first astronaut. This was reported by MiddleAsianNews.
Pham Tuan, born on February 14, 1947, in the village of Quoc Tuan, became the first Vietnamese astronaut and a Hero of Labor (1980) and a Hero of the Soviet Union (1980). In 1965, after graduating from high school, he joined the Vietnam People's Army, where he began his career as a technician in the DRV Air Force.
Pham Tuan underwent flight training in the USSR in 1967, after which he served in the 921st Fighter Aviation Regiment "Sao Do," flying MiG-17 and MiG-21 aircraft.
During the "Christmas bombings" of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on December 18, 1972, he made an unsuccessful sortie to intercept B-52 bombers and crashed his MiG-21 upon landing. However, on December 27 of the same year, he managed to shoot down a B-52 bomber, becoming the first to destroy it in aerial combat (although some sources attribute this victory to surface-to-air missiles).
In 1977, Pham Tuan entered the Gagarin Air Force Academy and graduated in 1982.
In 1979, he was selected to participate in the "Intercosmos" program, and his training as an astronaut began.
In July 1980, he flew on the spacecraft "Soyuz-37," "Soyuz-36," and the orbital station "Salyut-6."
From 1989 to 1996, he served as the Deputy Commander of the Air Force for Political Affairs, and then from 1996 to 2000, he was the Deputy Chairman of the Main Directorate of the Defense Industry of the Ministry of Defense. In 2000, he headed this directorate and in 2002 became the chairman of the Military-Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
Since 2008, he has been retired and lives in Hanoi. His wife, Chan Thi Phuong Tien, worked as a military paramedic. Pham Tuan has two children (daughter Pham Thi Hang Thu and son Pham Anh Tuan) and an adopted daughter Vo Thi Cong Mi.
Two of his older brothers died during the First Indochina War: one was killed by French punitive forces, and the other fell on the battlefield at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
