On 16th June 1963, Vostok 6 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, with just one cosmonaut on board – Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Валентина Владимировна Терешкова) was born in 1937, in Yaroslavl region, from the parents of Belarusian descent.
From her early years, Tereshkova was interested in parachuting. In 1959, she joined a local parachuting section of DOSAAF (Добровольное общество содействия армии, авиации и флоту – Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy) and performed ninety jumps yet in the same year. In addition, Tereshkova went through her first experiences in skydiving.
The Soviet female space programme was officially launched at the beginning of 1962, less than a year since Gagarin´s flight. Depending on the source, between 400 and 500 women were selected from the DOSAAF parachute sections across the country.
On 12th March 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was officially enrolled in the Soviet cosmonaut corps. Her previous skydiving experience was one of the key elements that opened Tereshkova a way into space. In November of the same year, she passed her final exams at the cosmonaut training centre, all with excellent marks, and was officially chosen for the flight.
On 16th June 1963, at 9:29:52 UTC, Vostok 6 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, with Valentina Tereshkova onboard. The spacecraft spent 2 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes in space, completing forty-eight orbits. The flight was live broadcasted by the Soviet state television, including images from an inside camera and Tereshkova´s radio communication with control centre and Nikita Khrushchev himself. Her official call sign was Чайка (pronounced ´chayka´, English: seagull).
In the morning of 19th June, Tereshkova ejected from the descending capsule and made a successful parachute landing in Kazakhstan.
Full story here.
Cover photo: the Soviet post stamp from 1963, Wikipedia, Public Domain
