The Prime Minister of Mongolia, Zandan Shatar Gombojav, held a meeting with Pham Tuan, a fighter pilot and the first astronaut of Asia, who is also a Hero of the Soviet Union and the People's Armed Forces of Vietnam.
Pham Tuan, a lieutenant general of the Vietnam Air Force, expressed gratitude for the warm welcome and noted his closeness to Mongolia. He spoke about his numerous visits to this country, the first of which took place in 1965, as well as how he observed Mongolia from space. The astronaut mentioned that he was happy to be back in Mongolia to participate in events dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the country's first manned space flight.
Prime Minister Zandan Shatar also appreciated the meeting with Pham Tuan, who made his space flight in 1980. He emphasized that Pham Tuan is not only a national hero of Vietnam but also an important historical figure for the entire Asian region. The friendship between the two heroes symbolizes the strong ties between the peoples of Mongolia and Vietnam and inspires further cooperation.
Lieutenant General Pham Tuan is participating in an international scientific conference on aerospace technologies dedicated to the theme of "Space Cooperation" and the 45th anniversary of the first Mongolian astronaut. This information is provided by MiddleAsianNews.
Pham Tuan is an outstanding Vietnamese astronaut and Hero of Labor (1980), as well as a Hero of the Soviet Union (1980). He was born on February 14, 1947, in the village of Quoc Tuan in Thai Binh province. His family was peasant.
In 1965, after finishing high school, he began his service in the Vietnam People's Army, where he initially worked as a technician in the Air Force.
In 1967, Pham Tuan underwent flight training in the USSR and became a pilot of MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters in the 921st Fighter Aviation Regiment "Sao Do" ("Red Star").
During the "Christmas bombings" in 1972, he made an unsuccessful sortie to intercept B-52 bombers, which led to the loss of his MiG-21 during landing. However, on December 27, 1972, he shot down a B-52 bomber, becoming the first to do so in aerial combat (although some American sources claim this was due to surface-to-air missiles).
In 1977, he entered the Gagarin Air Force Academy, graduating in 1982.
In 1979, Pham Tuan was selected for the Intercosmos program and began training for a space flight.
In July 1980, he participated in a space flight on the "Soyuz-37," "Soyuz-36," and the orbital station "Salyut-6."
From 1989 to 1996, he served as Deputy Commander of the Air Force for Political Affairs, and then until 2000, he worked as Deputy Chairman of the Main Department of Defense Industry of the Ministry of Defense. In 2000, he headed this department, and in 2002, he became the chairman of the Military-Commercial Joint-Stock Bank.
Since January 2008, Pham Tuan has been retired and resides in Hanoi.
His wife, Tran Thi Phuong Tien, worked as a military paramedic. They have two children (daughter Pham Thi Hang Thu and son Pham Anh Tuan) and an adopted daughter Vo Thi Cong Mi.
Both of Pham Tuan's older brothers died during the First Indochina War: one was killed by French punitive forces, and the other fell in battle near Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
