Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Tuân Pham
Tuân Pham (born February 14, 1947) was the first Vietnamese cosmonaut, and the first Asian in space.
Born in Quoc Tuan , he joined the North Vietnamese air force, and after fighting in the Vietnam War, rose to the rank of Major General.
He was selected as part of the sixth international crew for the Intercosmos programme on April 1 1979. His backup cosmonaut was to be Thanh Liem Bui .
Pham, along with Soviet cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 23, 1980, on board Soyuz 37. They were to service the Salyut 2 station.
During his time in orbit, Pham performed experiments on the melting of mineral samples in microgravity. He also carried out plant experiments on azolla. Pham photographed Vietnam from orbit for mapping purposes.
Pham was in space for 7 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes. He completed 142 orbits, and was recovered on October 11, 1980.
He is married and has one child.
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