Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first ever woman in space. She made her historic flight at the age of 26 years. She flew into space on June 16th 1963 when her spacecraft Vostok-6 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome and orbited earth 49 times.
She spent 70 hours 50 minutes in space and landed back on earth on June 19th 1963. Valentina was born on March 6th 1937 in a village near Yaroslavl in central Russia. Her father was a truck driver and her mother was a factory worker.
Quick Facts: –
- Valentina Tereshkova is also the only female cosmonaut who completed a solo space flight.
- She was selected from more than 400 aspirants. The main reason for her selection was her skydiving and parachute jumping skills.
- During the launch of her landmark spaceflight she recited Mayakovski: “The sky! Take off your hat! I’m coming!”
- When landing she got a big bruise on her nose but the following day it was concealed for a photo shoot.
- She also became the first ever female general in the Soviet Army.
- In 1963 she got married to the third Soviet cosmonaut, Andrian Nikolayev.
- They had one girl together in June 1964 named Elena who was the world’s first child whose parents were both cosmonauts.
- Valentina was honored with USSR’s highest award ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ medal for her achievements.
- Her favorite planet is Mars and she is ready to fly to the planet even if it is a one-way flight.
