Women's History Month: Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova

L. recommended that I write about Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, but I decided to focus on the first woman in space, period. I never learned about her in elementary school, that's for sure.


A cosmonaut through the Soviet space program, she became the first civilian (and woman) in space on June 16, 1963. From Women in Aviation and Space: Colonel-Engineer Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, the most in-depth bio I could find in English:

Although it was Korolev's idea just after Gagarin's flight to put a woman into space as yet another novelty, Khrushchev himself made the final crew selection. On June 14, 1963, Vostok 5 was launched with cosmonaut Valeri Bykovsky aboard. Two days later, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6. Korolev was unhappy with Tereshkova's performance in orbit and she was not permitted to take manual control of the spacecraft as had been planned. Mishin later claimed she was `on the edge of psychological instability'. Whatever the case, Valentina completed three days in space, more than the flight time of all the American astronauts put together.

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova: The First Woman in Space
Wikipedia: Valentina Tereshkova