First South East Asian astronaut, not Malaysia. What's more, he went up as an astronaut and not a spaceflight participant. Pham Tuân, Hero of the Soviet Union (born February 14, 1947) was the first Vietnamese cosmonaut and by extension, he was also the first person from a third world country, and the first Asian (excluding Russia) in space.
Quoc Tuan, Thai Binh province in northern Vietnam. He joined the VPAF, or Vietnam People's Air Force in 1965 to be later commissioned as a combat officer, fighting in the Vietnam War against US fighter jets from then onwards until 1975.
On the night of December 27, 1972, he is claimed to have shot down a United States B-52 bomber over Hanoi while flying a MiG-21, becoming the first and only pilot ever to do so. The USAF does not acknowledge the claim, reporting that all B-52s lost during the Vietnam War were shot down by Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs). For his military exploits, Pham Tuan received a number of high State distinctions including the Ho Chi Minh Order. He was also given the Order of Lenin and the rare honour of being one of the few foreigners to be awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union".
He eventually rose to the rank of Major General in the VPAF before eventually training to be a research engineer with the budding USSR-Vietnamese Space program.
He was selected as part of the sixth international crew for the Intercosmos programme on April 1, 1979. His backup cosmonaut was to be Bùi Thanh Liêm.
Pham, along with Soviet cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 23, 1980, on board Soyuz 37. In the traditional Vietnamese lunar calendar, this was the 12th day of the 6th month, Year of the Monkey [Canh Than]. They were to service the Salyut 6 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 Tuan also 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 July 31, 1980.
He is married and has two children (a daughter born 1976 and a son born 198?). He is now a Lieutenant General, Head of the General Department of Defence Industry of the Ministry of Defence, and a member of the Vietnam National Assembly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pham_Tuan
