Asian-American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month

In honor of Asian-American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we recognize astronauts with Asian roots who have flown to the International Space Station and contributed to its assembly, operations and research activities. Other pioneers preceded them into space. The first person of Asian origin to reach space, Phạm Tuân of Vietnam spent eight days aboard the Salyut-6 space station in 1980 as part of the Soviet Union’s Interkosmos program to fly cosmonauts from friendly socialist countries.