Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937) was the first woman in space, orbiting the earth 48 times in Vostok VI in 1963.

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space. Tereshkova took off from the Tyuratam Space Station in the Vostok VI in 1963, and orbited the Earth for almost three days, showing women had the same resistance to space as men. She then toured the world promoting Soviet science and feminism, and served on the Soviet Women's Committee and the Supreme Soviet Presidium. Valentina Vladimirovna "Valya" Tereshkova was born on March 6, 1937, in the Volga River village of Maslennikovo. Her father, Vladimir Tereshkov, was a tractor driver; a Red Army soldier during World War II, he was killed when Valentina was two. Her mother Elena Fyodorovna Tereshkova, a worker at the Krasny Perekop cotton mill, singlehandedly raised Valentina, her brother Vladimir and her sister Ludmilla in economically trying conditions; assisting her mother, Valentina was not able to begin school until she was ten.

Tereshkova later moved to her grandmother's home in nearby Yaroslavl, where she worked as an apprentice at the tire factory in 1954. In 1955, she joined her mother and sister as a loom operator at the mill; meanwhile, she graduated by correspondence courses from the Light Industry Technical School. An ardent Communist, she joined the mill's Komsomol (Young Communist League), and soon advanced to the Communist Party.

In 1959, Tereshkova joined the Yaroslavl Air Sports Club and became a skilled amateur parachutist. Inspired by the flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, she volunteered for the Soviet space program. Although she had no experience as a pilot, her 126-jump record gained her a position as a cosmonaut in 1961. Four candidates were chosen for a one-time woman-in-space flight; Tereshkova received an Air Force commission and trained for 18 months before becoming chief pilot of the Vostok VI. Admiring fellow cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was quoted as saying, "It was hard for her to master rocket techniques, study spaceship designs and equipment, but she tackled the job stubbornly and devoted much of her own time to study, poring over books and notes in the evening."

At 12:30 PM on June 16, 1963, Junior Lieutenant Tereshkova became the first woman to be launched into space. Using her radio callsign Chaika (Seagull), she reported, "I see the horizon. A light blue, a beautiful band. This is the Earth. How beautiful it is! All goes well." She was later seen smiling on Soviet and European TV, pencil and logbook floating weightlessly before her face. Vostok VI made 48 orbits (1,200,000 miles) in 70 hours, 50 minutes, coming within 3.1 miles of the previously launched Vostok V, piloted by cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky. Tereshkova's flight confirmed Soviet test results that women had the same resistance as men to the physical and psychological stresses of space.

Upon her return, she and Bykovsky were hailed in Moscow's Red Square. On June 22 at the Kremlin she was named a Hero of the Soviet Union and was decorated by Presidium Chairman Leonid Brezhnev with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. A symbol of emancipated Soviet feminism, she toured the world as a goodwill ambassador promoting the equality of the sexes in the Soviet Union, receiving a standing ovation at the United Nations. With Gagarin, she travelled to Cuba in October as a guest of the Cuban Women's Federation, and then went to the International Aeronautical Federation Conference in Mexico.

On November 3, 1963, Tereshkova married Soviet cosmonaut Colonel Andrian Nikolayev, who had orbited the earth 64 times in 1962 in the Vostok III. Their daughter Yelena Adrianovna Nikolayeva was born on June 8, 1964, and was carefully studied by doctors fearful of her parents' space exposure, but no ill effects were found. After her flight, Tereshkova continued as an aerospace engineer in the space program; she also worked in Soviet politics, feminism and culture. She was a Deputy to the Supreme Soviet between 1966 and 1989, and a People's Deputy from 1989 to 1991. Meanwhile, she was a member of the Supreme Soviet Presidium from 1974 to 1989. During the years from 1968 to 1987, she also served on the Soviet Women's Committee, becoming its head in 1977. Tereshkova headed the USSR's International Cultural and Friendship Union from 1987 to 1991, and subsequently chaired the Russian Association of International Cooperation.

Tereshkova summarized her views on women and science in her 1970 "Women in Space" article in the American journal Impact of Science on Society: "I believe a woman should always remain a woman and nothing feminine should be alien to her. At the same time I strongly feel that no work done by a woman in the field of science or culture or whatever, however vigourous or demanding, can enter into conflict with her ancient `wonderful mission'--to love, to be loved--and with her craving for the bliss of motherhood. On the contrary, these two aspects of her life can complement each other perfectly."

Historical Context

• The Life and Times of Valentina Tereshkova (1937-)
• At the time of Tereshkova's birth:
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States
• Amelia Earhart disappeared on flight over Pacific Ocean
• First radio telescope built
• Stalin conducted purges of Soviet military and Communist Party
• The times:
• 1939-1945: World War II
• 1961-1963: Vostok space program in Soviet Union
• 1967-1981: Soyuz space program in Soviet Union
• 1979-1989: Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan
• 1991: Persian Gulf War
• 1992-1996: Civil war in Bosnia
• Tereshkova's contemporaries:
• Charles Yeager (1923-) American pilot
• Aaron Klug (1926-) British biophysicist
• Gabriel Garcia Márquez (1928 - ) Colombian novelist
• Neil Armstrong (1931-) American astronaut
• James Cronin (1931-) American physicist
• Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) Russian cosmonaut
• Selected world events:
• 1941: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor
• 1954: First nuclear-powered submarine launched
• 1961: First manned spacecraft orbited the earth
• 1969: Man walked on moon for first time
• 1971: Soviet Union established first space station
• 1972: U.S. established diplomatic ties with People's Republic of China
• 1978: First casino opened in Atlantic City
• 1989: Disney's The Little Mermaid

Further Reading

• Drexel, John, editor, Facts on File Encyclopedia of the 20th Century, Facts on File, 1991, pp. 884-885.
• O'Neill, Lois Decker, "Farthest Out of All: The First Woman in Space," in Women's Book of World Records and Achievements, Anchor Books, 1979, pp. 739-740.
• Sharpe, Mitchell, "It is I, Sea Gull": Valentina Tereshkova, First Woman in Space, Crowell, 1975.
• Uglow, Jennifer S., editor, The International Dictionary of Women's Biography, Continuum, 1982, p. 461.

• "Soviets Orbit Woman Cosmonaut," in New York Times, June 17, 1963, pp. 1, 8.
• "2 Russians Land in Central Asia after Space Trip," in New York Times, June 20, 1963, pp. 1, 3.