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Valentina Tereshkova
Astronaut

Valentina Tereshkova

Famoose for

Becoming the first woman in space on Vostok 6 in 1963.

First woman in space · Vostok 6 research

Born
6 March 1937
Birthplace
Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Soviet Union (now Russia)

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Valentina Tereshkova

A Soviet cosmonaut who moved from textile work and parachuting into a historic solo flight. She later had a long political career in the Soviet Union and Russia.

Early life

Rural upbringing

Grew up near Yaroslavl after her father died during the Soviet-Finnish war.

Factory and parachuting

Worked in textiles and developed experience as an amateur parachutist.

Career

  1. 1962

    Cosmonaut selection

    Joined the first Soviet group of female cosmonaut trainees.

  2. 1963

    Vostok 6

    Orbited Earth forty-eight times during nearly three days in space.

  3. 1969

    Engineering education

    Graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.

  4. Later decades

    Public office

    Held Soviet political roles and later served in Russia’s parliament.

Missions & contributions

First woman in space

Flew a solo orbital mission at 26.

Vostok 6 research

Recorded observations and tested human adaptation to flight.

Space representation

Became an international representative of the Soviet space programme.

Beyond space

Family

Married fellow cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev and had a daughter, Elena.

Later politics

Supported Vladimir Putin, including proposing the 2020 amendment allowing his presidential term count to reset.

Sources & photo creditLife, career and references ↗

Photo: This file comes from the website of the President of the Russian Federation and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. In short: you are free to distribute and modify the file as long as you attribute www.kremlin.ru . Note: Works published on site before April 8, 2015 are also licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. The permission letter from the Press Secretary for the President of the Russian Federation is available here .. CC BY 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.