Pham Tuan

Pham Tuan is a Vietnamese Air Force pilot and former fighter ace who became the first Vietnamese citizen, and the first Asian, to fly in space, launching aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in July 1980 as part of the Interkosmos program to the Salyut 6 space station. He spent about eight days in orbit conducting joint Soviet-Vietnamese scientific experiments, and his flight remains a landmark point of national pride in Vietnam.