VALENTINA TERESHKOVA
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova
Cosmonaut
Nationality Russian
Born March 6, 1937
Yaroslavl Oblast, USSR
Other occupation Pilot
Rank Major General, Soviet Air Force
Space time 2d 22h 50m
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937),
is a retired Soviet cosmonaut and was the first woman to fly
in space, aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.
Tereshkova was born in Bolshoye Maslennikovo, a small village in the Yaroslavl
Oblast. Her father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant.
She began school in 1945 at the age of eight, but left school in 1953 and
continued her education by correspondence courses. She became interested in
parachuting from a young age, and trained in parachuting at the local Aeroclub,
making her first jump at age 22 on 21 May 1959. It was her expertise in
parachute jumping that led to her selection as a cosmonaut. Tereshkova was a
textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur parachutist when she was
recruited into the cosmonaut program. In 1961 she became secretary of the local
Komsomol (Young Communist League) and later joined the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova
Cosmonaut
Nationality Russian
Born March 6, 1937
Yaroslavl Oblast, USSR
Other occupation Pilot
Rank Major General, Soviet Air Force
Space time 2d 22h 50m
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937),
is a retired Soviet cosmonaut and was the first woman to fly
in space, aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.
Tereshkova was born in Bolshoye Maslennikovo, a small village in the Yaroslavl
Oblast. Her father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant.
She began school in 1945 at the age of eight, but left school in 1953 and
continued her education by correspondence courses. She became interested in
parachuting from a young age, and trained in parachuting at the local Aeroclub,
making her first jump at age 22 on 21 May 1959. It was her expertise in
parachute jumping that led to her selection as a cosmonaut. Tereshkova was a
textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur parachutist when she was
recruited into the cosmonaut program. In 1961 she became secretary of the local
Komsomol (Young Communist League) and later joined the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union.