Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa

Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa is a Mongolian air force officer and cosmonaut who became the first Mongolian in space. Born on 5 December 1947 in Gurvanbulag in Bulgan, Mongolia, he joined the Mongolian Air Force in 1966 and trained as an aerospace engineer, graduating from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in 1978, the same year he was selected for the Intercosmos group of guest cosmonauts flown by the Soviet space program. He launched on 22 March 1981 aboard Soyuz 39 as a research cosmonaut, flying with commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov on a mission of about eight days, which made Mongolia the tenth country to send a person into space. He was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic for the flight, later served as Mongolia's Defense Minister from 2000 to 2004 and sat in the State Great Khural from 2004 to 2008.