Vietnamese Cosmonauts

In April 1967, the military forces of socialist countries allied to the Warsaw Pact-namely Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland and Romania-united their efforts in space exploration and research under the leadership and administration of the Soviet Union. The programme would become known as Intercosmos.

In 1979, Russia and Vietnam signed an agreement "Intercosmos". The agreement highlighted the conditions to choose four astronaut candidates from the Vietnamese Army and then two of them would be selected to train in the Star City. Pham Tuan became the fourth candidate by virtue of his record. Three of the four are known: Captain Bui Thanh Liem, Colonel Nguyen Van Quoc and Lt-Colonel Pham Tuan. The first candidate, obviously, must be the most experienced pilot of Vietnam - the one who shot down nine American planes: Nguyen Van Coc. However, Nguyen Van Coc failed the last test of the medical committee. Once again, Pham Tuan was lucky. The finalists were Tuan and Liem. From a reservist, he became the first candidate to fly into space.

His backup cosmonaut was to be Bùi Thanh Liêm. Bui Thanh Liem [aka Thanh Liem Bui] was part of the 1979 Intercosmos Cosmonaut Group (IKO-3 Detachment). Selected in April 1979, he retired on July 31, 1980 and died on September 1, 1981 in a Mig-21 crash at age 32.

Pham Tuan broke two records: he was the first fighter pilot to shoot down a B-52 bomber and the first Asian man to fly into space. Pham Tuan was born in 1947 in Quoc Tuan village, Kien Xuong district, Thai Binh province. Pham Tuan was not able to join the armed forces until after he had finished the 10 grade (high school at that time in Vietnam). Pham Tuan recalled the unforgettable day: "When I met a military officer, I proposed that he send me to a unit in the Air Force because I felt great hurt when seeing the helpless eyes of Vietnamese people under US bombings and no one could do anything to stop them."

On December 27, 1972, Pham Tuan copied the command to attack when he was 10 km from the target B-52. After launching two rockets, he dived quickly to a safe altitude and landed. Several hours later, there was an official announcement that the Vietnamese Air Force had shot down a B-52 [The US does not confirm this event]. Pham Tuan received a call from the Minister of Defence to congratulate him on the victory. Early in 1973, State President Ton Duc Thang signed a decision, awarding Pham Tuan the title Hero of the Armed Forces. On July 23, 1980 (Vietnam time) from Baikonur Cosmodrome (USSR), the spaceship, controlled by Gorbatko and Pham Tuan, was launched into space. It is hard for Pham Tuan to describe how he felt when he left the earth for the limitless confines of space. He flew like in the dream of a boy from Quoc Tuan village. President Ho Chi Minh's words: "I believe that a representative from Vietnam will fly into space in the near future", had become true.

The Vietnamese on the Salyut Space Station flew into a different world where everything was new. A small act like pressing a certain button at a certain time was not easy because everything they learned on earth was just theory while the real practice was in the spaceship where they were not allowed to make any mistakes. During the first three circles around the earth, Pham Tuan and Gorbatko checked the equipment and the safety of the spaceship. Then, they took off their space uniforms when they got permission from the earth command. The pressure went up immediately as the Soyuz 37 was approaching the space station. During the 16th and 17th circles, the spaceship captain started the automatic function to join the spaceship with the space station. The joining process was completed successfully as the crew of the spaceship, the astronauts in Salyut 6 and the staff of earth command cooperated with each other smoothly.

Pham Tuan stepped onto Salyut 6 with a special feeling. Another record was broken: The first Vietnamese, the first Asian, stepped onto a space station. That Vietnamese man brought into space the Declaration of Independence and the will of President Ho Chi Minh as well as a national red flag with a yellow star.

Pham Tuan had a desire to view Vietnam from space. During the first days of the flight, they also saw the sun that shone on the earth diagonally. Pham Tuan recognised the familiar shape of his country though the sunlight made it difficult for him. However, there were lots of clouds then. Reporters from Donev newspapers persuaded Pham Tuan not to be sad because he would have chances to enjoy it later. Victor Gorbatko had a sense of humour. Answering the question, "What is your research astronaut (Pham Tuan) doing?", he said that he was sitting by the window and did not want to leave it until he saw his beloved village. In fact, in his free time, Pham Tuan always sat by the window with binoculars in his hands, hoping to see the S-shape land. Sometimes, he broke the timetable to go to bed and sat at the command center to watch.

After 7 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes with 142 orbits, it was time for Pham Tuan and Gorbatko to return to earth. What happened to the two astronauts after their landing was like a joyful carnival. The moving meeting took place in Star City where Pham Tuan's father was waiting to welcome him back.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Le Duan, State President Nguyen Huu Tho, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong and Minister of Defence Van Tien Dung welcomed Pham Tuan and Gorbatko at the gate of the Presidential Palace. It was September 2, the national day, 35 years after Vietnam declared independence. Pham Tuan and Gorbatko were presented with Gold Star Medals and Hero of the Socialist Labour of Vietnam.

Pham Tuan retired in early 2008 as a Lieutenent General, Head of the General Department of Defence Industry of the Ministry of Defence. His wife works as a military doctor. His daughter, born 1976, finished her MA programme in Australia while his son, Pham Tuan Anh, studyied in the United Kingdom. Pham Tuan's house is situated on Victory against B-52 road (the present Truong Chinh road in Hanoi).

"Operation Moonshot," a U.S. educational group seeking reconciliation between the U.S. and Vietnam, hosted a delegation of sixteen Vietnamese United Nations diplomats and their families on tours of space-related sites in Florida from April 20th to the 24th, 2003. Minister Counselor and Deputy Representative Mr. Ngo Duc Thang headed the delegation on a tour by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, which included the award-winning Apollo/Saturn V Center and the International Space Station Center. Also on their itinerary was a tour of the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).

"Operation Moonshot: An American and Vietnamese Journey from War to Peace to Space" is an educational project of reconciliation and cooperation between citizens, veteran writers, pilots, space explorers, and U.S. and Vietnamese diplomats. The project was conceived in 1996. It is based upon the war memoir of U.S. Vietnam War veteran, Mr.William Broyles, Jr., author of "Brothers In Arms: A Journey from War to Peace," published in 1986. In his description of his 1984 trip back to Vietnam, Mr. Broyles recounts meeting Vietnamese Cosmonaut Colonel Pham Tuan, which inspired the project "Operation Moonshot" twelve years later. As Mr. Bobby Muller, President of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) once said "When you are standing on the Moon, looking back at the Earth, there is no United States of America, no Vietnam-there are no countries at all. There is only the EARTH with WE the HUMAN FAMILY living upon it!"