After flying aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-50 as a payload specialist, biochemist Eugene H. Trinh became the first Vietnamese American astronaut in space and the second Vietnamese astronaut to explore the cosmos.

The Air Defense-Air Force High Command has partnered with the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association to celebrate the exploits of Vietnamese astronaut Pham Tuan as one of the greatest national heroes, 40 years on from becoming the first Vietnamese person to orbit the earth.