Valentina Tereshkova (Vostok 6): first woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova (Vostok 6): primera mujer en el espacio
- Date
- 16-19 de junio de 1963 · confidence high
- Place
- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan (USSR)
- Credited to
- Valentina Tereshkova; Soviet Vostok programme
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
Tereshkova spent almost three days in orbit aboard Vostok 6, completing 48 revolutions of the Earth. She was the first woman in space and remains the only one to have flown a solo mission.
The women cosmonaut programme was soon cancelled; no other Soviet woman flew until 1982.
What it led to
- a simultaneous flight with Valery Bykovsky's Vostok 5
- debate over women's participation in astronaut corps
- Svetlana Savitskaya as the second woman in space (1982)