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Valentina Tereshkova: The First Woman in Space

First Woman in Space

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Space exploration is something that people routinely do today, without regard to their gender. However, there was a time more than half a century ago when access to space was considered a "man's job". Women weren't yet there, held back by requirements that they had to be test pilots with a certain amount of experience. In the U.S.  13 women went through astronaut training  in the early 1960s, only to be kept out of the corps by that pilot requirement.

In the Soviet Union, the space agency actively sought a woman to fly, provided she could pass the training. And so it was that Valentina Tereshkova made her flight in the summer of 1963, a couple of years after the first Soviet and U.S. astronauts took their rides to space. She paved the way for other women to become astronauts, although the first American woman didn't fly to orbit until the 1980s.

Early Life and Interest in Flight

Valentina Tereshkova was born to a peasant family in the Yaroslavl region of the former USSR on March 6, 1937. Soon after starting work in a textile mill at the age of 18, she joined an amateur parachuting club. That stoked her interest in flight, and at the age of 24, she applied to become a cosmonaut. Just earlier that year, 1961, the Soviet space program began to consider sending women into space. The Soviets were looking for another "first" at which to beat the United States, among many space firsts they achieved during the era.

Overseen by  Yuri Gagarin  (the first man in space) the selection process for female cosmonauts began in mid-1961. Since there weren't many female pilots in the Soviet air force, women parachutists were considered as a possible field of candidates. Tereshkova, along with three other women parachutists and a female pilot, was selected to train as a cosmonaut in 1962. She began an intensive training program designed to help her withstand the rigors of launch and orbit. 

From Jumping out of Planes to Spaceflight

Due to the Soviet penchant for secrecy, the entire program was kept quiet, so very few people knew about the effort. When she left for training, Tereshkova reportedly told her mother she was going to a training camp for an elite skydiving team. It wasn't until the flight was announced on the radio that her mother learned the truth of her daughter's achievement. The identities of the other women in the cosmonaut program were not revealed until the late 1980s. However, Valentina Tereshkova was the only one of the group to go into space at that point.

Making History

The historic first flight of a female cosmonaut was slated to concur with the second dual flight (a mission on which two craft would be in orbit at the same time, and ground control would maneuver them to within 5 km (3 miles) of each other). It was scheduled for June of the following year, which meant that Tereshkova had only about 15 months to get ready. Basic training for the women was very similar to that of the male cosmonauts. It included classroom study, parachute jumps, and time in an aerobatic jet. They were all commissioned as second lieutenants in the Soviet Air Force, which had control over the cosmonaut program at the time.

Vostok 6 Rockets into History

Valentina Tereshkova was chosen to fly aboard Vostok 6, scheduled for a June 16, 1963 launch date. Her training included at least two long simulations on the ground, of 6 days and 12 days duration. On June 14, 1963 cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovsky launched on Vostok 5 . Tereshkova and Vostok 6 launched two days later, flying with the call sign "Chaika" (Seagull). Flying two different orbits, the spacecraft came within roughly 5 km (3 miles) of each other, and the cosmonauts exchanged brief communications. Tereshkova followed the Vostok procedure of ejecting from the capsule some 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) above the ground and descending under a parachute. She landed near Karaganda, Kazakhstan, on June 19, 1963. Her flight lasted 48 orbits totaling 70 hours and 50 minutes in space. She spent more time in orbit than all the U.S. Mercury astronauts combined.

It's possible that Valentina may have trained for a  Voskhod  mission that was to include a spacewalk, but the flight never happened. The female cosmonaut program was disbanded in 1969 and wasn't until 1982 that the next woman flew in space. That was Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, who went into space aboard a  Soyuz  flight. The U.S. did not send a woman into space until 1983, when  Sally Ride, an astronaut and physicist , flew aboard the space shuttle  Challenger.

Personal Life and Accolades

Tereshkova was married to fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev in November 1963. Rumors abounded at the time that the union was just for propaganda purposes, but those have never been proven. The two had a daughter, Yelena, who was born the following year, the first child of parents that had both been in space. The couple later divorced.

Valentina Tereshkova received the Order of Lenin and Hero of the Soviet Union awards for her historic flight. Later she served as the president of the Soviet Women's Committee and became a member of the Supreme Soviet, the USSR's national parliament, and the Presidium, a special panel within the Soviet government. In recent years, she has led a quiet life in Moscow. 

Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen .

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60 years ago today, Valentina Tereshkova launched into space

On a drab Sunday in Moscow in November 1963, a dark-suited man stood beside his veiled bride, whose bashful smile betrayed the merest hint of nerves. Despite the extraordinarily lavish surroundings of the capital’s Wedding Palace, it might have been any normal wedding but for one thing: Both groom and bride were cosmonauts, members of Russia’s elite spacefaring fraternity .

Two years earlier, that bride, Valentina Tereshkova, had been a factory seamstress and amateur parachutist with more than 100 jumps to her name when she’d volunteered for the cosmonaut program. Now, the 26-year-old, whom TIME magazine dubbed “a tough-looking Ingrid Bergman,” was among the most famous women in the world, an accolade she had earned just months ago by becoming the first female to leave the planet.

Sixty years on from her pioneering Vostok 6 mission, more than 70 women from around the globe have followed in Tereshkova’s footsteps, crossing that ethereal boundary between ground and space. Some have commanded space missions, helmed space stations, made spacewalks, spent more than a cumulative year of their lives in orbit, and even flown with a prosthesis. And women from Britain, Iran, and South Korea have become their countries’ first national astronauts, ahead of male counterparts.

Humble beginnings

Born in the tiny Russian hamlet of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, 160 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Moscow, Tereshkova scarcely knew her father. A tractor driver prior to his service, he died in the Finnish Winter War when she was two years old. Her mother single-handedly raised three children while also laboring in the Krasny Perekop textile mill.

Tereshkova did not begin formal schooling until nearly age 10 and left at the age of 16, finishing her education via correspondence courses. The young girl worked making coats, apprenticed in a tire factory, then joined her mother and sisters at the loom. An interest in aviation eventually drew Tereshkova to an air sports club, where she made her first parachute jump at age 22.

In 1961, she applied to Russia’s secretive space program, just as officials were considering flying a woman in space as the obvious next step after Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space in April that year. Early in 1962, five female finalists — Tatiana Kuznetsova, Valentina Ponomaryova, Irina Solovyova, Zhanna Yorkina, and Tereshkova — arrived at the cosmonauts’ training facility on Moscow’s forested outskirts to learn the rudiments of space travel. All were seasoned parachutists. This was a necessary prerequisite, as during the descent back to Earth, cosmonauts ejected from their Vostok capsules at an altitude of 4 miles (7 km) and landed beneath a parachute canopy.

Tereshkova was not top of the crop in technical preparedness or skill. Unlike NASA’s steely-eyed astronauts, she was no fighter ace or test pilot or intellectual. Indeed, the best praise bestowed by the cosmonauts’ commander, stone-faced General Nikolai Kamanin, was that she was “suitably feminine.” But her humble origins and gushing support for Russia’s ruling regime made her an ideal pawn for Premier Nikita Khrushchev, for whom space exploration and Soviet propaganda were dual faces of the same coin. He desired to promulgate the fiction that under Soviet socialism anyone could go into space. In a high-stakes, high-risk environment, it was a huge gamble.

The original mission plan envisaged either one woman flying for three to four days or two women launching in separate Vostok capsules. But this changed in March 1963. Instead, male cosmonaut Valeri Bykovsky would attempt a record-breaking weeklong flight on Vostok 5, with Tereshkova launching on Vostok 6 partway into his mission for few-day-long mission of her own.

Shortly after Bykovsky’s June 14th launch, his rocket underperformed and limited his mission from eight to five days. Nonetheless, it still ensured a world record at the time. In Moscow, Khrushchev was hosting Harold Wilson, leader of Britain’s Labour Party. When Wilson asked how many cosmonauts Khrushchev had in space this time, the premier could not help but gloat: “Only one… so far!”

Tereshkova’s Vostok 6 mission launched at 12:29 P.M. Moscow Time on June 16th. The rocket sent her into an orbital configuration that caused her spacecraft and Bykovsky’s to naturally pass within 3 miles (5 km) of each other twice daily. Three hours after liftoff, Tereshkova heard Bykovsky radioing her callsign, Seagull, and the pair were soon in regular voice contact. At one point, Bykovsky quipped that Tereshkova was “singing songs for me.”

Her three-day mission proved a political triumph for Khrushchev, surpassing all of NASA’s Project Mercury astronauts’ time in space combined. She photographed terrestrial cloud cover and landmasses beneath her flight path and was astounded by the “light blue, beautiful band” of the horizon over the poles.

But rumor swirled that Tereshkova did not adapt well to the strange weightless environment, appearing tired and weak in televised images from space. She suffered motion sickness, consumed barely half of her food, and grumbled about a lack of provisions to clean her face or teeth. She found the provided bite-sized chunks of bread dry and tasteless, and despite Tereshkova’s penchant for Vostok’s fruit juices and cutlet pieces, she began craving Russian black bread, potatoes, and onions as her mission neared its end.

That end came June 19th, after 70 hours and 48 orbits. The capsule’s descent was commanded automatically. After ejecting, Tereshkova mistakenly opened her helmet visor and was struck by a small piece of falling metal; the glancing blow left a nasty cut on her face. Barely missing a lake in the prevailing wind, she landed safely and was welcomed home by a clutch of kindly — though somewhat perplexed — locals, who offered her fermented milk, cheese, flatcakes, and bread.

A complicated legacy

Following Vostok 6’s success, Khrushchev crowed that Russia offered its women a far better lot than the capitalist West: Under Soviet socialism, he said, women could prosper and reach the stars . But the propagandist reality of Tereshkova’s flight was laid bare when no more Russian women entered space for another two decades. Even today, the total number of female cosmonauts can be counted on two hands, accounting for just 8 percent of all women launched into space to date.

Like Gagarin before her, who logged the shortest orbital mission by any male spacefarer, Tereshkova’s time in space is also the shortest of any woman’s. Neither flew again, as Gagarin was killed in an aircraft crash before he could complete a second mission. Tereshkova earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering and became active in politics. Although she was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 for her support of Vladimir Putin’s attempted annexation of Ukraine, Valentina Tereshkova’s spaceflight remains a shining example of the triumph of the human spirit over fierce adversity. 

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First woman in space marks 50 years of her historic flight

It was another Soviet first in space 50 years ago — putting a woman in orbit. And 26-year old Valentina Tereshkova carried her part with grace, shouting "Take off your hat, sky, I'm coming!" as she blasted off.

President Vladimir Putin praised her during a meeting at his residence Friday, marking the anniversary of her flight, which came a little more than two years after the Soviet Union put the first man into orbit. Putin awarded her the Order of Alexander Nevsky for meritorious public service, one of the highest Russian honors.

Tereshkova's three-day mission instantly made her a global celebrity and a poster image for Soviet space glory.

However, behind the scenes there were strong concerns about the flight and Tereshkova's account of the mission differs dramatically from recollections of other veterans of the nation's space program.

Recalling her flight, the 76-year old cosmonaut says she felt no fear despite what she described as a glitch that might have stranded her in space. Others have faulted her performance and questioned whether she was able to deal with an emergency on descent.

Soviet space officials started considering a space mission by a woman soon after Yuri Gagarin's flight in April 1961, seeing it as another chance to advertise the nation's prowess.

To make the mission even more spectacular for propaganda purposes, Moscow decided to score another first by making it the first simultaneous flight of two spaceships. Valery Bykovsky blasted off aboard the Vostok-5 ship on June 14, 1963, and Tereshkova followed him on June 16.

Tereshkova, who was given the call sign of Chaika (Seagull), blasted off faultlessly and stayed in good shape until day two, when flight controllers noted that she was slow or unable to fulfill their commands and looked tired and unresponsive.

"She sounded apathetic in conversations with ground control," Vladimir Yazdovsky, the chief doctor of the Soviet space program wrote in his memoirs. "She largely limited her movements and kept sitting almost motionless."

Yazdovsky said Tereshkova felt unwell because of weightlessness, and Sergei Korolyov, considered the father of Russia's space program, was so concerned about her condition that he suggested an early landing. Officials decided, however, to stick to the original plan for a three-day mission.

Korolyov's deputy, Boris Chertok, later recalled in his chronicle of the Soviet space program that worries about Tereshkova were exacerbated by her failure to properly align the ship during a simulation testing her ability to perform a manual landing in case of autopilot failure during descent.

Her ship landed faultlessly in automatic mode on June 19, 1963, but Chertok said that Korolyov and others spent yet another agonizing moment when Tereshkova failed to communicate with ground controllers during the descent.

Tense moments of Tereshkova's mission remained hidden from the public until the Soviet collapse when top figures in the space program spoke about it for the first time. Tereshkova dismissed all the talk about her feeling unwell during the flight as groundless speculation.

Tereshkova told reporters last week that engineers made a mistake in designing the ship's controls, which would have left her stranded if she hadn't noticed it in time.

"It was programmed to raise the orbit instead of landing," she said. "I put the new data in and it worked fine."

Tereshkova said that Korolyov himself pleaded with her after the flight to keep the flaw secret: "He told me: 'Chayechka (a nickname for Chaika), please don't talk about it.'"

She said she kept the promise and only spoke about it because a space engineer disclosed the glitch in 1993.

Chertok and other top figures in the Russian space program told a sharply different story, saying that Tereshkova simply couldn't pilot the ship in manual mode during in-orbit training. Chertok recalled Tereshkova's meeting with engineers focusing on the issue that involved a private conversation with Korolyov, from which she emerged teary-eyed.

Doctors also had their share of complaints. Yazdovsky wrote that after landing in the Altai region in southern Siberia, Tereshkova drank horse's milk and ate food offered to her by local farmers, giving them what was left of her space ration in violation of medical regulations. He also claimed that Tereshkova cleaned the mess on the ship after her landing and made retrospective entries in the ship's log, making it impossible for doctors to objectively evaluate her condition.

Tereshkova received a hero's welcome after the flight and was showered with awards. A few months later she married cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev presiding over the wedding party.

Tereshkova moved on to an official career, holding various jobs and honorary titles. She now holds a Parliament seat on the ticket of the main Kremlin party, serving as deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Universe Today

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Who Was The First Woman To Go Into Space?

When it comes to the “Space Race” of the 1960s, several names come to mind. Names like Chuck Yeager, Yuri Gagarin, Alan Shepard, and Neil Armstrong, but to name a few. These men were all pioneers, braving incredible odds and hazards in order to put a man into orbit, on the Moon, and bring humanity into the Space Age. But about the first women in space?

Were the challenges they faced any less real? Or were they even more difficult considering the fact that space travel – like many professions at the time – was still thought to be a “man’s game”? Well, the first woman to break this glass ceiling was Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet Cosmonaut who has the distinction of being the first woman ever to go into space as part of the Vostok 6 mission.

Early Life:

Tereshkova was born in the village of Maslennikovo in central Russia (about 280 km north-east of Moscow) after her parents migrated from Belarus. Her father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant. Her father became a tank officer and died during the Winter War (1939-1940) when the Soviet Union invaded Finland over a territorial dispute.

Between 1945 to 1953, Tereshkova went to school but dropped out when she was sixteen, and completed her education through correspondence. Following in her mother’s footsteps, she began working at a textile factory, where she remained until becoming part of the Soviet cosmonaut program.

She became interested in parachuting from a young age and trained in skydiving at the local Aeroclub. In 1959, at the age of 22, she made her first jump. It was her expertise in skydiving that led to her being selected as a cosmonaut candidate a few years later. In 1961, she became the secretary of the local Komsomol (Young Communist League) and later joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Vostok Program:

Much like Yuri Gagarin , Tereshkova took part in the Vostok program , which was the Soviet Unions’ first attempt at putting crewed missions into space. After the historic flight of Gagarin in 1961, Sergey Korolyov – the chief Soviet rocket engineer – proposed sending a female cosmonaut into space as well.

At the time, the Soviets believed that sending women into space would achieve a propaganda victory against the U.S., which maintained a policy of only using military and test pilots as astronauts. Though this policy did not specifically discriminate on the basis of gender, the lack of women combat and test pilots effectively excluded them from participating.

In April 1962, five women were chosen for the program out of hundreds of potential candidates. These included Tatyana Kuznetsova, Irina Solovyova, Zhanna Yorkina, Valentina Ponomaryova, and Valentina Tereshkova. In order to qualify, the women needed to be parachutists under 30 years of age, under 170 cm (5’7″) in height, and under 70 kg (154 lbs.) in weight.

Along with four colleagues, Tereshkova spent several months in training. This included weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge tests, rocket theory, spacecraft engineering,  parachute jumps, and pilot training in jet aircraft. Their examinations concluded in November 1962, after which Tereshkova and Ponomaryova were considered the leading candidates.

A joint mission profile was developed that would see two women launched into space on separate Vostok missions in March or April of 1963. Tereshkova, then 25, was chosen to be the first woman to go into space, for multiple reasons. First, there was the fact that she conformed to the height and weight specifications to fit inside the relatively cramped Vostok module.

Second, she was a qualified parachutist, which given the nature of the Vostok space craft (the re-entry craft was incapable of landing) was absolutely essential. The third, and perhaps most important reason, was her strong “proletariat” and patriotic background, which was evident from her family’s work and the death of her father (Vladimir Tereshkova) during the Second World War.

Originally, the plan was for Tereshkova to launch first in the Vostok 5 ship while Ponomaryova would follow her into orbit in Vostok 6. However, this flight plan was altered in March 1963, with a male cosmonaut flying Vostok 5 while Tereshkova would fly aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963. After watching the successful launch of Vostok 5 on 14 June, Tereshkova (now 26) began final preparations for her own flight.

Tereshkova’s Vostok 6 flight took place on the morning of June 16th, 1963. After performing communications and life support checks, she was sealed inside the capsule and the mission’s two-hour countdown began. The launch took place at 09:29:52 UTC with the rocket lifting off faultlessly from the Baikonur launchpad.

During the flight – which lasted for two days and 22 hours – Tereshkova orbited the Earth forty-eight times. Her flight took place only two days after Vostok 5 was launched, piloted by Valery Bykovsky, and orbited the Earth simultaneously with his craft. In the course of her flight, ground crews collected data on her body’s reaction to spaceflight.

Aside from some nausea (which she later claimed was due to poor food!) she maintained herself for the full three days. Like other cosmonauts on Vostok missions, she kept a flight log and took photographs of the horizon – which were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere – and manually oriented the spacecraft.

On the first day of her mission, she reported an error in the control program, which made the spaceship ascend from orbit instead of descending. The team on Earth provided Tereshkova with new data to enter into the descent program which corrected the problem. After completing 48 orbits, her craft began descending towards Earth.

Once the craft re-entered the atmosphere, Tereshkova ejected from the capsule and parachuted back to earth. She landed hard after a high wind blew her off course, which was fortunate since she was descending towards a lake at the time. However, the landing caused her to seriously bruise her face, and heavy makeup was needed for the public appearances that followed.

Vostok 6 would be the last of the Vostok missions, despite there being plans for further flights involving women cosmonauts. None of the other four in Tereshkova’s early group got a chance to fly, and, in October of 1969, the pioneering female cosmonaut group was dissolved. It would be 19 years before another woman would fly as part of the Soviet space program –  Svetlana Savitskaya , who flew as part of the Soyuz T-7 mission.

After Vostok 6:

After returning home, certain elements within the Soviet Air Force attempted to discredit Tereshkova. There were those who said that she was drunk when she reported to the launch pad and was insubordinate while in orbit. These charges appeared to be related to the sickness she experienced while in space, and the fact that she issued corrections to the ground control team – which was apparently seen as a slight.

She was also accused of drunken and disorderly conduct when confronting a militia Captain in Gorkiy . However, General Nikolai Kamanin – the head of cosmonaut training in the Soviet space program at the time – defended Tereshkova’s character and dismissed her detractors instead. Tereshkova’s reputation remained unblemished and she went on to become a cosmonaut engineer and spent the rest of her life in key political positions.

In November of 1963, Tereshkova married Andrian Nikolayev, another Soviet cosmonaut, at a wedding that took place at the Moscow Wedding Palace. Khrushchev himself presided, with top government and space program leaders in attendance. In June of 1964, she gave birth to their daughter Elena Andrianovna Nikolaeva-Tereshkova, who became the first person in history to have both a mother and father who had traveled into space.

She and Nikolayev divorced in 1982, and Nikolayev died in 2004. She went on to remarry an orthopaedist named Yuliy G. Sharposhnikov, who died in 1999. After her historic flight, Tereshkova enrolled at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy and graduated with distinction as a cosmonaut engineer. In 1977, she earned her doctorate in engineering.

Her fame as a cosmonaut also led to several key political positions. Between 1966 and 1974, she was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. She was also a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1974 to 1989, and a Central Committee Member from 1969 to 1991. Her accomplishments also led to her becoming a representative of the Soviet Union abroad.

In addition to becoming a member of the World Peace Council in 1966, the vice president of the International Women’s Democratic Federation and president of the Soviet-Algerian Friendship Society. She also represented the Soviet Union at the UN Conference for the International Women’s Year in Mexico City in 1975 and led the Soviet delegation to the World Conference on Women in Copenhagen.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tereshkova lost her political office but remained an important public figure. To this day, she is revered as a hero and a major contributor to the Russian space program. In 2011, she was elected to the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian legislature) where she continues to serve.

In 2008, Tereshkova was invited to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogaryovo for the celebration of her 70th birthday. In that same year, she became a torchbearer of the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She has also expressed interest in traveling to Mars , even if it were a one-way trip.

Legacy and Honors:

For her accomplishments, Tereshkova has received many honors and awards. She has been decorated with the Hero of the Soviet Union medal (the USSR’s highest award) as well as the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and many other medals.

Foreign governments have also awarded her with the Karl Marx Order, the Hero of Socialist Labor of Czechoslovakia, the Hero of Labor of Vietnam, the Hero of Mongolia, the UN Gold Medal of Peace, and the Simba International Women’s Movement Award. She has honorary citizenship in multiple cities from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Belarus and Mongolia in the east, to Switzerland, France, and the UK in the west.

Due to her pioneering role in space exploration, a number of astronomical objects and features are named in her honor. For example, the Tereshkova crater on the far side of the Moon was named after her. The minor planet 1671 Chaika (which translates to “Seagull” in Russian) is named in honor of her Vostok 6 mission call sign.

Numerous monuments and statues have been erected in her honor and the  Monument to the Conquerors of Space in Moscow features her image. Streets all across the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc nations were renamed in her honor, as was the school in Yaroslavl where she studied as a child. The Yaroslavl Planetarium, built in 2011, was created in her honor, and the Museum of V.V. Tereshkova – Cosmos exists near her native village of Maslennikovo.

The Space Age was a time of truly amazing accomplishments. Not only did astronauts like Tereshkova break the surly bonds of Earth, but they also demonstrated that space exploration knows no gender restrictions. And though it would be decades before people like Svetlana Savitskaya and Sally Ride would into space, Tereshkova will forever be remembered as the woman who blazed the trail for all female astronauts.

We have written many articles about Valentina Tereshkova for Universe Today. Here’s Who are the Most Famous Astronauts? , From Space to the Olympics , What is the Space Age? , Who was the First Man to go into Space? , Who was the First Dog to go into Space? , Who was the First Monkey to go into Space? , and How Many Dogs Have been into Space?

If you’d like more info on Valentina Tereshkova, check out NASA StarChild: Valentina Tereshkova , and here’s a link to NASA Imagine the Universe: First Women in Space .

Astronomy Cast also has some good episodes on the subject. Here’s Episode 124: Space Capsules. Part I – Vostok, Mercury and Gemini .

• Wikipedia – Valentina Tereshkova
• Wikipedia – Vostok Programme
• NASA: Star Child – Valentina Tereshkova
• NASA – Ride and Tereshkova: Changing the Course of Human Space Exploration
• Astronautix – Tereshkova

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One Reply to “Who Was The First Woman To Go Into Space?”

The acapella group the Bobs did a song about her as part of the CD Biographies. Here is the musical biography of Valentina Tereshkova.

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10 Facts About Valentina Tereshkova, the First Woman in Space

17 Jun 2021

On 16 June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. On a solo mission on the Vostok 6, she orbited Earth 48 times, logging more than 70 hours in space – just under 3 days.

With that single flight, Tereshkova logged more flight time than the all the US Mercury astronauts who had flown to that date combined. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, had orbited the earth once; the US Mercury astronauts had orbited a total of 36 times.

Whilst overlooked in notoriety to her male counterparts, Valentina Tereshkova remains the only woman to have been on a solo space mission, and also the youngest woman to have flown in space. Here are 10 facts about this brave and pioneering woman.

1. Her parents worked on a collective farm, and her father was killed during World War Two

Tereshkova was born on 6 March 1937 in the Bolshoye Maslennikovo village on the Volga River, 170 miles northeast of Moscow. Her father was a former tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile factory. During World War Two, Tereshkova’s father was a sergeant tank commander in the Soviet Army , and was killed during the Finnish Winter War.

Tereshkova left school aged 16 and worked as a textile-factory assembly worker, but continued her education through correspondence courses.

2. Her expertise in parachuting led to her selection as a cosmonaut

Interested in parachuting from an early age, Tereshkova trained in skydiving and as a competitive amateur parachutist at her local Aeroclub in her spare time, making her first jump aged 22 on 21 May 1959.

After Gagarin’s successful first spaceflight , 5 women were selected to be trained for a special woman-in-space program to ensure the first woman in space would also be a Soviet citizen.

Despite having no pilot training, Tereshkova volunteered and was accepted into the program in 1961 due to her 126 parachute jumps. Of those selected, only Tereshkova completed a space mission. She joined the Soviet Air Force as part of the Cosmonaut Corps and was commissioned as a Lieutenant after her training (meaning Tereshkova also became the first civilian to fly in space, as technically these were only honorary ranks).

Bykovsky and Tereshkova a few weeks before their space mission, 1 June 1963.

Image Credit: RIA Novosti archive, image #67418 / Alexander Mokletsov / CC

Seeing her propaganda potential – the daughter of a collective farm worker who’d died in the Winter War – Khrushchev confirmed her selection. (Tereshkova became a member of the Communist Party in 1962).

After the successful launch of Vostok 5 on 14 June 1963 by male cosmonaut, Valery Bykovsky, Tereshkova’s spacecraft Vostok 6 lifted-off on 16 June, her radio call sign ‘ Chaika ‘ (‘seagull’). She was promoted to Captain in the Soviet Air Force mid-spaceflight.

“Hey sky, take off your hat. I’m on my way!” – (Tereshkova upon lift-off)

3. It was falsely claimed she’d been too ill and lethargic to conduct planned tests on board

During her flight, Tereshkova maintained a flight log and performed various tests to collect data on her body’s reaction to spaceflight.

Tereshkova only gave her definitive account about the false claims 30 years after the spaceflight, where she denied having been more ill than might be expected or failing to complete the on-board tests. Her voyage was actually extended from 1 to 3 days at her own request, and the tests had been planned to only be for one day.

Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963.

Image Credit: Russian Federal Space Agency / Alamy

4. It was also falsely claimed she had unreasonably challenged orders

Soon after lift-off, Tereshkova discovered that the settings for her re-entry were incorrect, meaning she would have sped into outer space, rather than back to Earth. She was eventually sent new settings, but space centre bosses made her swear to secrecy about the mistake. Tereshkova says they kept this secret for 30 years until the person who had made the mistake had died.

5. She had dinner with some local villagers after landing

As planned, Tereshkova ejected from her capsule during its descent around 4 miles above the Earth and landed by parachute – near Kazakhstan. She then had dinner with some local villagers in the Altai Krai region who had invited her after helping her out of her spacesuit, but was later reprimanded for violating the rules and not undergoing medical tests first.

6. She was aged only 26 when she made her space flight, receiving many awards and accolades

After her mission, Tereshkova was named a ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’. She never flew again, but became a spokesperson for the Soviet Union. While fulfilling this role, she received the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace. She was also twice awarded the Order of Lenin, and the Gold Star Medal.

Along with the Soviet success of sending the first animal (Laika, in 1957) and Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space (1961) Tereshkova’s flight registered another win for the Soviets in the early space race.

7. Khrushchev officiated at her first wedding

Tereshkova’s first marriage to fellow cosmonaut, Andriyan Nikolayev, on 3 November 1963 was encouraged by the space authorities as a fairytale message to the country – Soviet leader Khrushchev officiated at the nuptials. Their daughter Elena was the subject of medical interest, being the first child born to parents who’d both been exposed to space.

CPSU First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev (left) proposes a toast to the newly-weds Valentina Tereshkova and Andriyan Nikolayev, 3 November 1963.

However, this state-sanctioned element of her marriage made it hard when the relationship turned sour. The split was formalised in 1982, when Tereshkova married surgeon Yuli Shaposhnikov (until his death in 1999).

8. Despite Tereshkova’s success, it was 19 years before another woman travelled to space

Svetlana Savitskaya, also from the USSR, was the next woman to travel to space – in 1982. Indeed it took until 1983 for the first American woman, Sally Ride, to go to space.

9. She is politically engaged and is a big fan of Putin

Whilst inititally Tereshkova went on to become test pilot and instructor, following Gagarin’s death the Soviet space program was not willing to risk losing another hero and had plans for her in politics. Against her wishes, she was appointed as leader of the Committee for Soviet Women in 1968.

From 1966-1991 Tereshkova was an active member in the USSR’s Supreme Soviet. Tereshkova remained politically active following the Soviet Union’s collapse , but twice lost elections to the national State Duma in 1995-2003. She became the deputy chair of the Yaroslavl province in 2008, and in 2011 and 2016 was elected to the national State Duma.

Born in 1937 at the peak of Stalin’s purges, Tereshkova lived through the Soviet Union and its subsequent leaders. Whilst she recognises the Soviet Union made mistakes, Tereshkova maintains “there was a lot of good as well”. She consequently doesn’t have respect for Gorbachev, is fairly indifferent about Yeltsin, but is a big fan of Putin.

Valentina Tereshkova and Vladimir Putin, 6 March 2017 – on Tereshkova’s 80th birthday.

Image Credit: The Russian Presidential Press and Information Office / www.kremlin.ru / Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

“Putin took over a country that was on the brink of disintegration; he rebuilt it, and gave us hope again” she says, calling him a “splendid person”. It appears Putin is also a fan of hers, congratulating her personally on her 70th and 80th birthdays.

10. She is on record as saying she’d volunteer for a one-way trip to Mars

At her 70th birthday celebrations in 2007, she told Putin “If I had money, I would enjoy flying to Mars”. Reconfirming this aged 76, Tereshkova said she’d be happy if the mission turns out to be a one-way trip – where she’d end her life in a tiny colony with a few other Mars dwellers, living on supplies sporadically ferried from Earth.

“I want to find out whether there was life there or not. And if there was, then why did it die out? What sort of catastrophe happened? …I am ready”.

Vostok 6 capsule (flown 1964). Photographed at the Science Museum, London, March 2016.

Image Credit: Andrew Gray / CC

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20 Valentine's Day Travel Experiences for a Romantic Getaway

Leave the conversation hearts at home and consider one of these unforgettable experiences for your next couple's trip.

Roses are red, the Caribbean’s blue, there’s nothing more romantic than a getaway for two. 

While a home-cooked meal by candlelight or candy hearts by the handful are tried-and-true classics, if you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day idea that really shines this year, think about booking a plane ticket instead of a restaurant reservation. 

Traveling with your partner not only provides an opportunity to experience new places and cultures together, but also to discover new sides of yourself and your sweetheart.

When you’re thinking about how best to connect this February, consider one of these special experiences in beautiful locales across the world. From admiring a giant chocolate fountain in Switzerland to scouting the northern lights in Iceland, here are some of our favorite romantic Valentine’s Day travel experiences.  

Build Your Spiritual Bond in Bali, Indonesia

The jungles and beaches of Bali are rife with opportunities for you and your partner to deepen your spiritual connection. A resort like Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve , can arrange tours of nearby temples, sessions with traditional healers, and couple's spa sessions — all in addition to traditional romantic offerings like candlelit dinners and luxurious villas equipped with private pools.

Hit the Slopes in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, Canada

Courtesy of Mont Saint-Sauveur

Saint-Sauveur has all the romance of a snow-dusted European town, without the long-haul flight time. Just an hour's drive north of Montreal, this ski destination sits among the peaks of the Laurentian Mountains. The resort here, Sommet Saint-Sauveur , offers skiing, snowboarding, and even tubing, as well as a hearty dose of French-Canadian charm. Winter sports by day and French food by night is an ideal combination for adventurous travelers looking for an extra-special Valentine’s Day. Book one of the couples packages at Manoir Saint-Sauveur , which include perks like sparkling wine, a romantic dinner, and a 60-minute Swedish massage for two.

Go on Safari in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Richard Waite/Courtesy of Four Seasons

The Serengeti is one of the most sought-after safari destinations in the world, playing host to quintessential wildlife experiences like the Great Migration , when millions of wildebeest and zebra cross through Tanzania, often followed by lions and leopards (their predators). Witnessing these animals in action can give you and your partner new perspective and draw you closer as a result. And if you think lodging and dining here will be more rustic than romantic, think again. At Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti , the luxurious accommodations include plunge pool suites and freestanding villas. The lodge is in the middle of the Serengeti plains, so it’s not uncommon to see animals come right up to the property.

Scout the Northern Lights at Thingvellir National Park, Iceland

Valentine’s Day is a great time to see the northern lights in Iceland , since there's so little sunlight in winter between each long, aurora-strewn night. The northern lights are caused by collisions between solar particles and Earth’s magnetic field, and those tend to happen most frequently around the vernal equinox each March — meaning Iceland is also a great spot for a belated Valentine's trip. Spend a few days in Reykjavík, then head to Thingvellir National Park , a popular place to spot the lights not too far from the city.

Wine Taste Your Way Through St. Helena, California

Napa has long been a lovers' destination, and for good reason. From the Michelin-starred restaurants to the mesmerizing vineyards, the region oozes with romantic charm. There are many great hotels in Napa Valley, but we recommend the Harvest Inn in St. Helena, where you can stroll through the on-site vineyards before sharing a local cabernet sauvignon by your in-room fireplace. Nearby highlights include the Coppolas' wine estate, Inglenook , and Thomas Keller's world-famous fine dining establishment The French Laundry . And don’t forget to take your valentine to Castello di Amorosa , the medieval-style "castle of love" built by vintner Dario Sattui in nearby Calistoga.

Experience Literary Romance in Verona, Italy

A city for lovers, Verona is the fictional home of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. A five-day celebration called Verona in Love transforms the city each February, with symbols of romance everywhere you look. Heart-shaped lights illuminate the streets, hearts are projected onto buildings, and vendor stalls are arranged to form a giant heart-shaped market in Piazza dei Signori. The festival also features free concerts, poetry, a love song-writing contest, and a public reading of the most romantic letters to Juliet sent to Verona from around the world. Myriad local restaurants offer special deals for the holiday.

Relax in a Harborside Hot Tub in Copenhagen

For the lovebirds who are sick of cold weather and need a little warmth in their lives, there may be nothing better than trying some Scandinavian hydrotherapy. At CopenHot , you can cozy up together in an outdoor hot tub overlooking the Copenhagen Harbor — in the dead of winter. Once you’ve rinsed off, stop in at CopenHot’s panoramic sauna to seal in this wellness treatment.

Try the Private Island Life in French Polynesia

Private islands offer perfect seclusion and will seriously heighten the romance factor on your Valentine’s Day getaway. To get a taste of the private life for yourself, head to French Polynesia , which is bursting with whole-island resorts where you and your fellow hotel guests will be the only people for miles around. Book a stay at Motu Nao Nao or The Brando , an eco-resort that has hosted Barack Obama, Beyonce, and more.

Explore Machu Picchu, Peru

Rory Fuller/Travel + Leisure

Swap roses for orchids and Champagne bubbles for mountain mists — Valentine’s Day looks different at this altitude. Share the once-in-a-lifetime experience of exploring the ancient Incan ruins with your partner for memories as precious as a Peruvian opal. Tambo del Inka in the Sacred Valley provides a five-star home base before you head off on PeruRail's luxury Vistadome Observatory train to Machu Picchu .

Night Kayak in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is just a short (and often inexpensive) flight from the East Coast, yet once you’re there, you’re in a different world. For an enviable Valentine’s Day experience sure to bring you and your loved one closer, stay at the Condado Ocean Club  and let the concierge arrange a nighttime paddle around the Laguna del Condado for you. Between watching the lagoon's marine life through the clear bottom of your LED-illuminated kayak and lounging by the resort's infinity pool, the trip is bound to reignite your sense of adventure while giving you time to bond with your honey.

Pamper Your Sweetheart in Singapore

Take a trip to Shangri-La — the one in Singapore , that is. This paradise in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city is one of the most luxurious hotels around. Make Valentine's Day extra sweet with pastries from the on-site bakery, Shophouse, or book a private six-course dinner in the hotel's orchid gardens, surrounded by purple blooms.

Take a Champagne Bath in the Poconos, Pennsylvania

Courtesy of Cove Haven Entertainment Resorts

If you want a more retro Valentine’s Day experience within driving distance of New York City, look no further than Cove Haven Resort in the Poconos. The Champagne Tower Suite features a whirlpool bath inside a seven-foot-tall bubbly glass, where you can live out your most lavish hot tub dreams. There's also an in-room fireplace, perfect for cozying up while snow falls across the mountains outside, and a heart-shaped heated pool — because everyone needs to lean into Valentine’s Day kitsch sometimes.

Get Cozy in a Five-star Cottage in Barnard, Vermont

There are quaint country bed-and-breakfasts, and then there’s Twin Farms . This resort's private cottages, tucked into the bucolic wilds of central Vermont, have been artfully designed with sumptuous details like stone hot tubs and mosaic tile fireplaces. This place was made for quality time. Watch the snow fall outside your windows with a tall pour of a rare Madeira, carve into that fresh powder on the private slopes, and, if you’re feeling social, rub elbows at the nightly cocktails-and-canapés reception. The staff can even prepare an intimate picnic for two almost anywhere on the property's 300 acres — pick the Lift Shack for a cozy spot boasting ski-hill views and a fireplace.

Go on a Castle Crawl in Scotland

Channel the wild, windy romance of Outlander with a Highland (or lowland) fling. Scotland is known for its castles , both medieval and modern, and many are open for wandering and resting alike. For a daytime adventure, slip on your wellies and take a tour of an ancient estate like Edinburgh Castle , Culzean Castle , or Eilean Donan Castle . Overnight, stay in one of the plushly appointed rooms at Inverlochy Castle , where you and your partner will have 400-thread-count Egyptian cotton linens and views of the property’s private loch.

See a 30-foot Chocolate Fountain in Zurich

Sure, you could pick up a heart-shaped box of chocolate for your lover — or you could take them to Zurich to explore a whole museum of the stuff. The Lindt Home of Chocolate proves once and for all that the Swiss are the world’s premier chocolatiers. Peruse custom candy in the world’s largest Lindt chocolate shop, make your own sweets in the chocolateria , and, of course, marvel at the 30-foot-tall fountain that flows with pure Swiss chocolate. When you're done, sleep off your sugar high at a genuine Swiss chalet or Alpine castle. We recommend The Dolder Grand , perched above Lake Zurich. 

Get the Celebrity Treatment in St. Barts

Your partner is the most important person in your life, and with a jaunt to St. Barts , you can give them the true VIP treatment. This glamorous playground for the rich and famous nestled in Caribbean waters is resplendent with luxury hotels that boast crystalline private pools and powdery private beaches. Cheval Blanc St-Barth — or "the Maison," as it's sometimes known — sits on sun-kissed Flamands Beach and features beach suites with hot tubs and sea views, garden suites with swimming pools and alfresco dining areas, and private Caribbean barbecues with French wine.    

Visit Lover's Island in Croatia

4FR/Getty Images

In Croatia , you’ll find a heart-shaped experience that doesn’t have “Be Mine” stamped across it. Galešnjak is an island off the Dalmatian coast, and it gets its amorous nickname from its naturally occurring heart shape. The islet is all-natural, with absolutely no development, but it’s open to all tourists, beach-goers , and campers, so you and your sweetheart can still appreciate its unspoiled landscape. Stay in one of the numerous hotels or Airbnbs in nearby Turanj and charter a boat over to the paradisiacal retreat.  

Stay in a Love Nest in San Luis Obispo, California

Get all lovey-dovey at California’s Cupidcore capital. The Madonna Inn , halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles , takes Valentine’s Day to a new level with kitschy maximalism and vintage charm. Tuck into the inn’s signature Pink Champagne cake in a rose-colored booth at the opulent Gold Rush Steak House before sneaking off to your Love Nest suite. Adorned in shades of pink, with a little lookout tower at the top of a spiral staircase, this room is sure to show you and your lover la vie en rose .

Live Like Royalty in Marrakesh, Morocco

It’s no mirage: The private riads at the Royal Mansour are as lavish as they appear. Enjoy Marrakesh’s mild winter weather on your rooftop terrace by the private plunge pool before indulging your sweet tooth at a patisserie workshop. As if the natural splendor of the Ochre City weren’t enough, the Royal Mansour has a romance package that includes an intimate dinner and a private suite in the spa, where you and your partner will receive a sensuous massage. 

Escape the Crowds in Paris

What this idea lacks in originality it makes up for in elegance. A Valentine’s Day à la Français has a certain ring to it (a five-carat, cushion-cut if you’re lucky), and you’re likely to snag a good deal as winter is the City of Light’s off-season . You and your partner won’t mind the windchill when you’re snuggled up in a lavish suite at the Ritz . Pamper yourself in the spa and hit teatime at Salon Proust before donning that vintage Dior you just bought and strolling arm-in-arm with your significant other along the Seine.

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The First Group of Female Cosmonauts Were Trained to Conquer the Final Frontier

Two decades before the first American woman flew to space, a group of female cosmonauts trained in Star City of the Soviet Union 

Uliana Malashenko, Supercluster

They entered a heavily male-dominated industry in the early days of space exploration, still terra incognita for humankind. When one of these pioneers, Valentina Tereshkova, returned to Earth as the first woman in space, the whole world celebrated a milestone for both cosmonautics and feminism. But instead of taking the next step, Moscow shelved their female cosmonaut program for two decades.

This is the story of the first all-female Soviet space squad.

Nikolai Kamanin, a prominent aviator and big wig in the Soviet space industry, celebrated New Year’s Eve in 1963 surrounded by family at his home just outside Moscow. He was enjoying an evening with his wife, son and granddaughter. Kamanin missed them tremendously over the past two busy years.

Kamanin recruited the first two cosmonauts, Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov, and Gagarin took the mantle of first human in space on April 12, 1961. After that historic flight, Kamanin was still managing the space squad based in Star City, near Moscow. But now he was lobbying for the first female flight, and his dream was about to come true.

“When the first cosmonauts travelled the world to give speeches after their flights, Kamanin was along for the ride. During these trips, he realized that one of the most frequently asked questions by foreign journalists was about sending a woman to space. This inspired Kamanin to proceed with the idea,” says Anton Pervushin, the author of Yuri Gagarin: One Flight and the Whole Life and 108 Minutes that Changed the World .

In 1961, months after Gagarin’s launch, Kamanin began to pitch the idea of a first female flight. He was able to make powerful allies including top-ranking party officials and Mstislav Keldysh, a member of the USSR Academy of Science, considered a top scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics. Kamanin also sought out support from Sergey Korolev, a leading Soviet rocket engineer regarded as the founding father of practical cosmonautics. Korolev would prove to be a critical voice in realizing Kamanin’s dream.

After some effort, Kamanin managed to convince Korolev to support the idea of a first female flight. And six months later, the Central Committee of the Communist Party agreed to recruit 60 more cosmonauts, including five women.

Throughout this process, Nikolai Kamanin continued to travel and promote the nation’s space efforts overseas. From April 1961 to January 1963, he visited more than 30 countries with Gagarin and Titov, including a trip to the United States. There they met with President John F. Kennedy and had dinner with the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, and his wife at their home.

According to memoirs written by a member of the Soviet female squad years later, over the course of that trip, Kamanin got to know legendary female aviator Geraldyne Cobb. In 1960, she and 12 other women passed the same health screening tests given to male astronauts for Project Mercury. This attempt by the Americans to prove women were capable of flying to space was dubbed ‘ Mercury 13 ’ for the number of female finalists in the experiment. None of them would ever make it to space.

"In fact, before any person had flown in space, some researchers had been exploring whether women might actually be better suited for spaceflight than men. Scientists knew that women, smaller beings on average, require less food, water and oxygen, which was an advantage when packing a traveler and supplies into a small spacecraft,” writes Margaret Weitekamp, a historian and curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, in Right Stuff, Wrong Sex .

The Mercury 13 scientists found that women did better than men in isolation tests and often had stronger cardiovascular health. This project was led by NASA specialists, but it was never part of the agency’s official agenda. It was a privately funded initiative, and it did not change the industry’s gender policies at the time.

By May 1962, when the Russian delegation visited the United States, the first Soviet female trainees had already been accepted to the space squad in Star City. NASA, however, was still not planning to launch a woman to space. The agency made this position clear in response to a letter sent by grade school student Linda Halpern, in which she asked President Kennedy how she could become an astronaut. “We have no present plans to employ women on space flights," NASA responded.

Regardless of NASA’s position on female space flight at the time, the Kremlin understood the critical role public relations would play in the space race and sought to bolster its propaganda effort. Under the circumstances, any new achievement or milestone would prove Soviet dominance in the emerging space industry. Moscow decided to strike first.

When the idea of sending a female cosmonaut to space was officially approved by Soviet leadership, more than 800 women applied for the job. Fifty-eight were formally considered but only 23 candidates were selected for advanced medical screening in Moscow.

The ideal female cosmonaut candidate was younger than 30, shorter than 5.5 feet, and no heavier than 154 pounds. A degree was a plus, but still optional. Much more attention was paid to the specific skills needed to perform her duties—but finding ideal candidates was tricky.

Male candidates were selected from a pool of test pilots, but this career path was unavailable for Soviet women. Some, however, did have related qualifications. In the post-war years, it was not too difficult to find female aviators who had not only served during World War II but also participated in air battles. However, all these veterans were older than the desired age.

Because of the small pool of qualified candidates, Soviet leadership decided to look for female cosmonauts at local skydiving clubs which had proliferated across the nation since the 1930s. During the Cold War, the government decided to promote this sport to all young people to prepare them for the next big war.

Skydiving was seen as a relevant qualification for reasons that were classified at the time. Early models of soviet spacecraft required cosmonauts to eject from their capsules and deploy a parachute, landing separately from the spacecraft. By the time a female unit was being put together in Star City, Soviet engineers had yet to come up with a safer landing strategy.

Finalists for the all-female space squad were divided into two groups for health screening tests that began in January 1962. They underwent medical examination at the same hospital where the Soviet Union's WWII ace pilot Alexey Maresyev, who lost both legs in combat, had tried to prove to a group of amused doctors that he was still capable of flying. According to the legend, he did so by performing Gopak, a Ukrainian Cossack dance.

Following the same protocol used for male candidates, women went through multiple medical and psychological tests. Doctors X-rayed their bodies, studied their brain functions, and ran advanced cardiovascular and blood screenings. The women were also subjected to centrifuge training, in which a machine rotates rapidly to apply powerful centrifugal forces on its inhabitant. Scientists used this test to determine how subjects would handle acceleration in zero gravity.

Zhanna Yorkina, a 25-year-old rural school teacher, was a uniquely qualified candidate. On top of being a skydiver, she spoke two foreign languages, German and French. But these skills didn't help when it came to the centrifuge tests. “My weight was 60 kilograms [132 pounds] but due to the g-force acceleration I felt an extra pressure of 600 kilograms [1320 pounds] while being inside of it,” Yorkina recalled. “This does not feel nice. If you relax your abdomen, you will get unconscious, which often happened with the men as well. We had a remote control in our hands while testing. If you hold it, it means you are conscious. If not, you have passed out, and they take you out.”

Marina Popovich submitted her application to the space squad along with her husband, Pavel Popovich, who had just survived all the brutal tests required for the job. In August 1962, he and Andryan Nikolaev would perform the first group space flight. Popovich, a highly experienced female aviator, was told she did not pass her health tests. Later, her husband would ask Kamanin to help his wife join the Soviet Air Force, and in 1964 Popovich would become the Soviet Union’s first female military test pilot.

Whether or not Marina Popovich actually failed the health tests is still unclear. Some documents relating to the selection process are still classified, and external factors could have been considered, including loyalty to the regime and discriminatory assumptions about women. Later, all finalists would admit they felt sick after each round of simulator training, but some were better at covering it up.

When selection began, Muscovite Valentina Ponomareva was 28. She was a staff member for the Department of Applied Mathematics at Steklov Mathematical Institute, which was part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Institute was closely connected with the design bureau, led by Sergey Korolev.

Intelligent and well-educated, with a degree from the Moscow Aviation Institute, Ponomareva had chosen a career in math over her high school passion, literature. But deep inside, she yearned for a life in the skies. As a university student, Ponomareva was skipping classes to work and fly with a local aviation club. There, she met another amateur pilot who later became her husband and the father of her son.

She received an unexpected offer to try “flying higher than any pilot” while dancing with a male colleague at a New Year’s work party. Ponomareva said yes without hesitation, but deep inside she thought it was a joke. Her colleague was persistent, and Ponomareva eventually sent an official application to her new boss, Mstislav Keldysh, who was recently promoted to President of the USSR Academy of Science.

When they met, Ponomareva was nervous. In her eyes, Keldysh was a monumental figure, considering his outstanding contributions to the Soviet space industry. “Why do you like flying?” Keldysh asked her. “I don’t know,” Ponomareva replied. “That’s right, we can never know why we like flying,” said Keldysh. He accepted her application.

Ponomareva would go on to pass her health tests, and she recovered well after simulator training. But Yuri Gagarin opposed her candidacy. “We cannot put the life of a mother at risk by sending her to space,” said the very first man to fly beyond the atmosphere. Nevertheless, Ponomareva, the only woman without significant skydiving experience among the five, was accepted to the female unit.

Ponomareva wasn’t the only woman brought to the pool of candidates by an outside party. At least two other finalists received offers to enlist from the Soviet Union’s secret police.

When Irina Solovyova was contacted by these shadowy figures, she was a 24-year-old engineer from Ural with a science degree and was a member of the national skydiving team. “Me and my skydiving instructor and future husband, Sergey Kiselev, went to our favorite cafe to discuss the offer and stayed there until it closed,” Solovyova recalled . “We decided it was worth trying.”

Tatyana Kuznetsova, a 20-year-old staff member of the Moscow Institute of Radio Technics and an avid skydiver, was recruited in the same way. From the position of stenographer, Kuznetsova quickly climbed to the role of party secretary at the Institute. One year later, she was promoted to a senior laboratory assistant without obtaining a degree, and by her 20th birthday, she had become a national champion in skydiving. Shortly after winning that title, Kuznetsova received an offer to join the space squad.

Tatyana Morozycheva was a striking and fashionable woman. She worked as an art teacher in Yaroslavl while pursuing her interest in parachuting. Morozycheva began to represent her region in national contests and helped Valentina Tereshkova at the local parachuting club they both belonged to.

Both Morozycheva and Tereshkova were selected for the medical examination in Moscow, and their candidacies were pre-approved by the local branch of the Communist Party.

What happened next is still unclear. One version of events says Morozycheva got married and pregnant before she was informed of her selection for screening, and therefore skipped the trip. Another says she was rejected, and only told why later: because she was expecting a child.

According to her close friend Natalia Ledneva, who spoke to a local Yaroslavl newspaper, Morozycheva was not an easy-going person. She was a very candid speaker and strived to be number one. Ledneva recalled that Morozycheva did more pull-ups and ran faster than her male counterparts to prove she was the better candidate.

But the newspaper Kommersant suggested that Tereshkova outperformed Morozycheva in something just as important to the Soviets as the health tests: promoting communist values.

Valentina Tereshkova came from a working-class family. Her father was a tractor driver who died in the Soviet-Finnish war, leaving her to be raised by a single mother, a textile worker. Valentina followed her mother’s footsteps, landing a job at a local textile factory. But Tereshkova was found to be more than an average worker in the Soviet labor force. She was elected Secretary of the Komsomol Committee of her factory, an organization sometimes seen as the youth division of the Communist Party. This opportunity opened many doors.

In a Soviet documentary , Kamanin admitted that he was told about Valentina Tereshkova a few weeks before their official meeting by his deputy, General Goreglyad. “We have a new candidate, and she is a very good one. She is a great worker and a Komsomol leader,” said Goreglyad. “Please do not rush, we are still far from making the final decision on the flight,” he told Kamanin. According to Goreglyad, Tereshkova was the best fit for the mission.

Eventually, five women were accepted to the first all-female space unit in Star City near Moscow: Zhanna Yorkina, Irina Solovyova, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Valentina Ponomareva and course Valentina Tereshkova. They were all told they would fly one day.

In early 1962, members of the male space squad gathered at a dining room in Star City and were joined by Yuri Gagarin. “Congratulations! Get ready to welcome the girls in a few days,” announced Gagarin.

“We, a tiny group of military test pilots selected for the space program, had been living together as one big family in Star City for two years. We shared struggles and knew everything about each other, and now we had to accept new members to our family,” recalled cosmonaut Georgi Shonin.

“When we started training together, it was very unusual to hear soft and feminine call signs Chaika (seagull) or Bereza (birch) instead of solid and firm Sokol (falcon) or Rubin (ruby),” Shonin continues. “Their intonations alone were telling. If a voice was sonorous, everything went as planned. But sometimes their voices sounded pitiful. That meant the instructor was practicing certain failures of the system with them, and Bereza or Chaika was trying to fix the problem.”

“The guys treated us well, they helped us a lot and taught us how to pull it all off, how to solve theoretical and practical problems, and how to hide any health issues,” said Ponomareva decades later. “But they were not very happy when we, five girls, first showed up in Star City.”

The first female space flight was originally planned as a group mission. Two women would simultaneously pilot twin spacecraft in orbit. Nikolai Kamanin, the driving force behind this mission, believed female cosmonauts should not lag behind their male counterparts. After cosmonauts Nikolai Andrianov and Pavel Popovich simultaneously piloted two Vostoks in August 1962, a female group flight seemed like the logical next step.

Nevertheless, the mission plan and launch date changed multiple times. At one point, Kamanin was not even sure there would be enough spacecraft manufactured in time for the flight. But by April 1963, the plan was gaining support. Finally, a decision was made to fly a man, Valery Bykovsky, on one of the two Vostok spacecraft.

The question of which female cosmonaut would fly the mission remained undecided.

Early on, Irina Solovyova, Valentina Tereshkova and Tatyana Kuznetsova formed the leading trio. But as time passed, Kuznetsova was replaced by Valentina Ponomareva on the shortlist. Kamanin described Kuznetsova as the most sensitive and easily influenced candidate, traits he did not see as ideal for a future national hero. But his main concern was Tatyana Kuznetsova’s health.

Repeated sessions on simulators that heat the human body to extreme temperatures and mimic the significant gravitational forces of flight were part of the training program, and Kuznetsova did not respond well to these tests. Due to growing health concerns, Kuznetsova did not take the final exams in the fall of 1962. The remaining four women received excellent grades and graduated from the program as licensed cosmonauts.

But Tatyana Kuznetsova was not the only person whose health was impacted by the program. Zhanna Yorkina hurt her leg during a skydiving session, and as a result, was forced to take a three-month leave of absence to heal. She was able to catch up with the others and graduate from the program, but it wasn’t enough for a shot at becoming the first woman in space.

At the time, Soviet cosmonauts were treated as national icons, and trainees in the space program were the next generation. Members of the space squad were young, attractive, smart and well paid. The monthly salary of a licensed cosmonaut before a flight was 350 rubles, almost three times more than an engineer with a degree.

In this light, Kamanin started worrying about his “girls,” as he called them. He knew how the spotlight affected previous cosmonauts and remembered all too well the reprimands Gagarin and Titov received for excessive drinking and reckless driving. As far as we know, members of the female space unit never engaged in such ill-advised behavior, but some had their vices. Valentina Ponomareva occasionally smoked cigarettes, which was strictly prohibited, and was known for consuming alcohol on occasion. Kamanin saw even this minor transgression as a red flag.

“According to her health tests and preparedness, Ponomareva could have been the first choice for the female flight, but her behavior and conversations give reason to conclude that her moral values are not stable enough,” Kamanin wrote in his diaries.

Ponomareva’s memoirs paint a different picture. She recalls being enthusiastic about her role on the space squad and working hard to succeed. She was the only woman without much skydiving experience, and she was the oldest in the group, earning her the nickname Baby Valya from her instructor.

On one jump, Ponomareva landed incorrectly, injuring her tailbone. She could barely walk, but chose to jump again to overcome her fear. This second attempt was not any better, and her instructor was forced to call a doctor.

All X-rays performed on cosmonauts had to be reported to the Kremlin, meaning she would be at risk for dismissal. Her doctor ultimately decided not to perform the X-rays, hoping nothing serious had happened, and Ponomareva was thankful for his discretion.

Afraid to lose their prestigious positions, both female and male members of the space squad tended to hide medical issues, including minor sickness. Decades after Ponomareva struggled with these skydiving tests, she discovered three cracks in her spine and one in her chest, resulting from unsuccessful parachute jumps.

Ponomareva recalled there being no envy between the women in the squad. According to her, it was a healthy spirit of competition. Everyone did their best to be number one but also supported each other’s efforts.

Many of the women on the squad described Valentina Tereshkova as a good friend.

“She always advocated for our interests in front of the bosses. For example, in the beginning of the program we lived as if we were behind the barbed wire. We lived near Moscow but only Muscovites were allowed to leave the training camp to see their families,” Zhanna Yorkina recalled . “Me and Tereshkova got bored and asked for permission to go to Moscow. ‘What for? What do you want to buy?’ they said. Once, Valentina Tereshkova lost control and blurted out the following: ‘Knickers! That’s what we want to buy!’ This is how we got permission.”

As launch day drew closer, some of the women suspected they would not be chosen. Valentina Tereshkova was garnering a lot of attention, and it was soon officially confirmed that she would fly, with Ponomareva and Solovyova as alternates.

Korolev had two separate conversations with Tereshkova’s alternates after the decision was made. Solovyova was told that someone more extroverted was needed, since they would be dealing with worldwide publicity following the flight. Valentina Ponomareva received a different explanation for the final choice. Korolev told her that a working-class woman would be a better representation of Soviet ideals than one from a white-collar family.

“I have no doubt that Ponomareva was the best fit for the first female flight,” says space historian and author Anton Pervushin. “But unlike the case of Gagarin, the final decision was made not by specialists but by top-ranking politicians, including Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who was looking for a ‘Gagarin in a skirt.’ Khrushchev believed Tereshkova would be a better representation of the ideal Soviet Woman, and not only because she was a worker, but because the textile industry she represented played a key role in his domestic policies.”

All three women followed the same standard procedures before launch day. They filled out a captain’s logbook, checked their space suits and got used to the spacecraft cabin. But by this time, Ponomareva had lost all motivation, and there were moments when tears pricked the back of her eyes. Sergei Korolev, the lead Soviet rocket engineer, asked how she would feel if the first woman in space was someone else.

“Yes, I would feel hurt,” replied Ponomareva.

After a short pause, Korolev said he would feel the same.

On launch day, June 16, 1963, Tereshkova strode confidently to her Vostok 6 spacecraft. But as she reached the cabin, the historic importance of the moment sent adrenaline pumping through her veins. Her heart rate sped to 140 beats per minute.

“She is well prepared for the flight. She will not only be flying in space but piloting the spacecraft in the same fashion as men. When she lands, we will compare who is better at completing [their] tasks,” said Yuri Gagarin at Baikonur, a few hours before Tereshkova’s launch.

After three days and 48 orbits around our planet, the 26-year-old Tereshkova returned to Earth a global celebrity, receiving a bounty of state awards. The Soviet leadership had no doubt that this historic flight was a great political victory that would help promote communism worldwide.

Valentina Tereshkova arrived in Moscow with her group flight partner, Valery Bykovsky, who piloted another Vostok while they were in orbit together.

“Flying over all continents, me and my celestial brother Bykovsky did not feel lonely. The Communist Party, the Motherland, and great people of the Soviet Union gave us strength and wings to accomplish this flight,” said Tereshkova, standing in the Red Square between Khrushchev and Yuri Gagarin. “The Soulful and fatherly words of Nikita Sergeevich [Khrushchev] in a conversation we had on the first day in orbit inspired me to valiant service.”

The celebration was carefully planned in advance, and not a single detail could be overlooked, including officially approved and printed portraits of Valentina Tereshkova. Employees of state-run media knew which street poles at Leninsky Prospect they needed to stand around so their cameras could catch Tereshkova, the hero, meeting average citizens.

Crowds and rallies were planned and heavily controlled in the Soviet capital, especially when celebrating the nation’s space achievements. The Soviets didn’t want to risk empty streets, but with Tereshkova, a lack of public enthusiasm was not an issue. She was a sensation, and the people clamored to see her.

Even Clare Booth Luce, former congresswoman and ambassador to Italy and Brazil, already known for her anti-communist views, wrote an op-ed praising Tereshkova. In LIFE magazine, 1963, Luce wrote that Tereshkova "orbits over the sex barrier" and claimed this was possible only because Soviet ideology contained a message of gender equality.

The truth was more complicated. Not all the founding fathers of Soviet cosmonautics approved of Tereshkova’s performance in space. And they blamed her gender for it.

Throughout the duration of her flight, Tereshkova kept telling mission control she felt fine, but by her third day in orbit it became clear she was trying to hide her exhaustion. Tereshkova unexpectedly fell asleep and missed a status call with Earth. She felt constantly nauseous, vomited, lost her appetite and failed to perform any of the planned scientific experiments. Cosmonaut Bykovsky, who could listen to all communications with Earth, heard Tereshkova’s calls to the center and thought she had been crying.

Tereshkova returned to Earth unconscious after ejecting from the spacecraft and parachuting to the ground, with a bad bruise from her helmet. When she was found by local villagers, she accepted their food and handed out her tubed space rations. Both actions were strictly against Soviet protocol. Tereshkova tried to explain that it was the space food that made her sick, but her bosses wouldn’t accept the explanation.

“No more bitches in space!” Korolev said when Tereshkova returned to Earth. Surprisingly, none of the five women trained in the space squad has ever spoken ill about the lead Soviet rocket engineer or the way he treated them while in Star City.

Korolev had dreamed of flying to space himself, but he would never meet the health requirements after suffering for years in Stalin’s prison camps. But he also believed that one day his spacecraft and rockets would become so reliable and so comfortable that the health requirements wouldn’t be necessary. His comments may have been out of frustration, because Tereshkova’s flight showed him the disappointing truth: that spaceflight will push even a healthy young body to the limit.

Tereshkova’s fellow trainee and competitor for the first flight, Valentina Ponomareva, disagreed with the criticism of her. “I have no doubts she did all she needed to accomplish, because we needed to learn how a human being would feel in orbit. The first six cosmonauts did not have any goal that would be more important than this. All scientific experiments in orbit were also important, but they were not crucial,” Ponomareva wrote.

The rest of the female space unit continued to prepare for their next flight, trusting Korolev’s word that they would all one day get to space. Kamanin tried to talk Korolev into the idea of a female group flight, but no political reason existed for the Soviets to pursue this—Tereshkova’s flight had already provided enormous propaganda value.

Korolev would die in 1966, and the next two years would bring the death of two famed cosmonauts. The parachute bringing Vladimir Komarov back to Earth after the Soyuz 1 mission failed, making Komarov the first person to die during a space flight, and Yuri Gagarin suffered a fatal crash during a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base. These incidents put the entire space program on hold, and the female space unit would be dismissed by 1969. Kamanin, having failed to get his female space squad off the ground, would be forced to retire in 1971.

After their dismissal from the space squad, each woman received a comfortable apartment from the government, and the legacy of their cosmonaut training continued to have a lasting impact on their personal lives. Following the program, each former member of the squad married fellow cosmonauts. Four out of five women remained in Star City and continued working in the space industry. All files related to their training program would remain classified until the 1980s.

Zhanna Yorkina would later tell the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that all female trainees except Tereshkova were prohibited from getting pregnant until the space squad was disbanded. Ponomareva, who gave birth to her son before joining the program, also had to obey this rule. Yorkina broke this agreement, and as a punishment, a military rank granted to all female trainees after graduation was taken away from her.

Valentina Ponomareva would earn her PhD and perform other roles in the Soviet space industry. After the collapse of the USSR, she would return to literature and author several books about her time in the space squad.

Tatyana Morozycheva, who was considered for the space squad but never accepted, would give birth to a child and continue her record-setting career in skydiving. When she retired from parachuting, she joined a local art foundation and made a good living working for private clients. Morozycheva faced drinking problems which contributed to her death, despite interventions from Tereshkova, with whom she remained close.

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, became an active political figure and remains one to this day. At the State Duma, she represents United Russia, the pro-Kremlin Party that occupies the majority of seats in the lower house of the Russian parliament.

Andryan Nikolaev, the third Soviet cosmonaut to fly to space, became Tereshkova’s first husband, and Khrushchev himself attended their wedding. A year later, their daughter was born, but Tereshkova and Nikolaev would later divorce in the 1980s. In one interview, Tereshkova said Nikolaev was great to work with, but at home he became a tyrant. Nikolayev never married again. People who knew him said he did not want to share his life with any woman but Valentina.

Tereshkova was married a second time, to a doctor. Both her husbands have since passed away.

Today, she dislikes the press and hardly ever makes public remarks. Little is known about her life except that she is involved with a few charities and supports several orphanages. But in rare interviews, she has said she’d like to get back to space. “Mars is my favorite planet, and it’s my dream to get there to learn if life has ever existed on Mars. And if it did, why it disappeared.”

Tereshkova and Kuznetsova applied to a new Soviet training program in 1978. Both would pass health tests, but they were denied due to their age. Valentin Glushko, who led the space design bureau, said he promised Air Force marshal Savitsky to send a younger trainee, Savitsky’s daughter, Svetlana.

Glushko kept his word, and after nearly two decades, Svetlana Savitskaya would become the second Soviet woman in orbit in 1982—the same year Kamanin died.

The first American woman would not fly to space until June 1983, almost exactly 20 years after Valentina Tereshkova.

Editor’s Note, April 17, 2019: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that John Glenn was the first American astronaut, when, in fact he was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. The story has been edited to correct that fact.

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