This pioneering cosmonaut was the first woman in space and remains the only woman to fly there solo
When Valentina Tereshkova was 26 years old, she became the first woman to go to space. After quitting school early and joining her family’s factory business, her early life did not appear to be on a trajectory to the stars. However, her daring and passion for parachute jumping, which she developed early in adulthood, are what brought her on track to joining the Soviet space programme and made her a trailblazing space traveller.
After the Soviet programme was successful in sending the first person into space – Yuri Gagarin in April 1961 – the race was on to be the first space agency to send a woman there too. Because Tereshkova’s accomplishment was achieved on the basis of record-setting and political competition, there was less urgency to send any more female cosmonauts and astronauts on a space mission after this. As a result, 19 years would pass before Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman in space.
The images Tereshkova captured of Earth were used to identify aerosol layers in the planet’s atmosphere
At her local aviation club, Tereshkova completed roughly 150 parachute jumps. This skill won her one of four places in the space programme, from 400 civilian volunteers. As part of the Vostok programme, these cosmonauts needed to be able to eject themselves from the spacecraft during the return journey and parachute safely back down to Earth. What followed her selection was 18 months of intense training, including tests to analyse her physical endurance in microgravity and the pressure of solo travel in an intense environment. This included centrifugal testing, isolation tests and pilot- and parachute training. During her only visit to space, Tereshkova completed 48 orbits of Earth in 71 hours. To commemorate her contribution to Soviet space travel, Tereshkova was awarded the Order of Lenin when she returned to Earth. This was the highest civilian award given by the USSR.
Russian astronauts are called cosmonauts.
Tereshkova had a short career as a cosmonaut before taking to politics. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, she was an elected representative, and in 1966 she joined the World Peace Council. She continues to work in politics, and her latest re-election to the Russian parliament was in 2021. Her time in the space programme and interest in travelling to other worlds became a large part of Tereshkova’s identity. In 1977 she completed her doctorate in aeronautical engineering and she has more recently shown a desire to return to space. On multiple occasions she has publicly expressed her dream to travel to Mars. In 2013, she stated: ‘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.’
Today, women are not limited to merely dreaming of going to space. Despite the significant gap in female space travel following Tereshkova’s mission, she inspired an increase in young girls studying science and technology. More than 70 women have since followed her in travelling into space.
Vostok 6 was the launch of female space travel
On 16 June 1963, Tereshkova boarded the Vostok 6 spacecraft as part of a dual flight. Two days prior, Valery Bykovsky took off in Vostok 5. Vostok 5 was originally meant to be Tereshkova’s spacecraft, with two women taking part in the mission. Valentina Ponomaryova was the second cosmonaut scheduled to fly in Vostok 6, but plans were changed, and she was replaced with a man to compare the effects of space travel on male and female bodies. Tereshkova and Bykovsky took different flight paths. The two spacecraft came within 5 km of each other, which enabled the cosmonauts to communicate for a short time.
5 Facts about Valentina Tereshkova
1. Dinner stop
After her space flight, Tereshkova landed by parachute in Kazakhstan and went for dinner with the local villagers instead of going for medical tests.
2. Protected
After Yuri Gagarin died in a plane crash in 1968, Tereshkova was ordered to cease her career as a test pilot because the Soviet space programme didn’t want to lose another space icon.
3. Words of wisdom
In one of her famous quotes, Tereshkova said: ‘If women can be railroad workers in Russia, why can’t they fly in space?’
4. Seagull
During her space flight, Tereshkova’s call sign was ‘Chaika’, the Russian for ‘seagull’.
5. Lunar dedication
On the far side of the Moon is a small lunar impact crater named after the cosmonaut: Tereshkova crater.
A life’s work
From textile factory to space
1937
Tereshkova was born in a tiny Russian village on 6 March.
1939
Her father was killed in the Russo-Finnish Winter War when Tereshkova was two.
1947
Tereshkova didn’t start school until she was ten years old.
1959
Developing an interest in parachuting, Tereshkova made her first jump aged 22.
1960
She graduated from Light Industry Technical School.
1962
She was one of five selected to join the female cosmonaut corps.
1963
Tereshkova completed her spaceflight mission, which took almost three days.
1963
On 3 November, Tereshkova married fellow cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev.
1964
The couple had a baby girl together in June, called Elena.
1976
Tereshkova became a colonel in the Soviet Air Forces.
1982
Tereshkova and Nikolayev divorced, and she married surgeon Yuli Shaposhnikov.
Words: Ailsa Harvey
Illustration: Gallo/Getty Images
