You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Tereshkova's life and spaceflight were first examined (in the west) in the 1975 book: It Is I, Sea Gull; Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space by Mitchel R. Sharpe[7] and then again in greater detail of her life and spaceflight in the 2007 book Into That Silent Sea by Colin Burgess and Francis French, including interviews with Tereshkova and her colleagues. Due to her prominence Tereshkova was chosen for several political positions: from 1966 to 1974 she was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, from 1974 to 1989 a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and from 1969 to 1991 she was in the Central Committee of the Communist Party. 3rd class (6 March 1997) – for services to the state and the great personal contribution to the development of domestic space. Ms Tereshkova continued her studies after her spaceflight, graduating with honours from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in October 1969, and earning a doctorate in aeronautical engineering in April 1977. www.astrochix.com/2013/02/17/women-in-space-valentina-tereshkova After the dissolution of the first group of female cosmonauts in 1969, she became a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, holding various political offices. Next week’s article will continue the commemorative series of Women in Space by focusing on STS-7, the historic flight of Sally Ride, who became the first American female spacefarer back in June 1983. Although Tereshkova experienced nausea and physical discomfort for much of the flight,[5] she orbited the earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space. Bykovsky had spent nearly five days in orbit, and even in 2012 he retains the record for having spent the longest period of time in space alone. Rumors abounded at the time that the union was just for propaganda purposes, but those have never been proven. She paved the way for other women to become astronauts, although the first American woman didn't fly to orbit until the 1980s. Tereshkova, Solovyova and Ponomaryova were the leading candidates, and a joint mission profile was developed that would see two women launched into space, on solo Vostok flights on consecutive days in March or April 1963. Details on the Tereshkova flight fill in many gaps in the general space literature, including Bykovsky’s record as the longest solo flight to date. Tereshkova also maintained a flight log and took photographs of the horizon, which were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere. For some reason, Tereshkova did not call out each event, as required, and she reported neither a successful solar orientation or the progress of the retrofire or even the jettisoning of her craft’s instrument section. Since there weren't many female pilots in the Soviet air force, women parachutists were considered as a possible field of candidates. Yet the greatest achievement of Tereshkova’s mission is that it laid the foundation stone for the dreams of millions of girls and young women who would go on to carve their own niches in the annals of space history. On June 14, 1963 cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovsky launched on Vostok 5. This was done, and a monument now stands at the site in Lemetti—now on the Russian side of the border. None of the other four in Tereshkova's early group flew, and in October 1969 the pioneering female cosmonaut group was dissolved. For an image-conscious Soviet leadership, these achievements were exploited for the political advantages which they afforded. It is a quirk of historical coincidence that both the Soviet Union, the United States, and China sent their pioneering women into the heavens at exactly the same time, in mid-June. [3] Tereshkova's father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant. Valentina Tereshkova Awards and Nominations. Tereshkova’s televised image was broadcast throughout the Soviet Union and she spoke to Khrushchev and undertook most of her scientific experiments, recording images of land and cloud cover and describing Earth’s horizon as “a light blue, beautiful band.”, Reports soon emerged that the gamble of flying an “ordinary” Russian girl—albeit one with over a hundred parachute jumps to her credit—was not entirely successful. She is known for her work on, Bolshoe Maslennikovo, Tutaevskiy rayon, Yaroslavskaya oblast, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia], The Deuce Season 2 Episode 5 Review: All You'll Be Eating Is Cannibals, Sally Ride, Valentina Tereshkova Proved Space Isn’t Just for Boys (Guest Blog), Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race, Damals mit Panda, Gorilla und Co. - Eine historische Spurensuche im Zoologischen Garten und im Tierpark Berlin (Kurzfassung), What to Watch if You Miss the "Game of Thrones" Cast. She remained politically active following the collapse of the Soviet Union and is still revered as a heroine in post-Soviet Russia. Photo Credit: NASA, Both were record-holders. The female cosmonaut program was disbanded in 1969 and wasn't until 1982 that the next woman flew in space. Ms Tereshkova continued her studies after her spaceflight, graduating with honours from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in October 1969, and earning a doctorate in aeronautical engineering in April 1977. Nick Greene is a software engineer for the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Engineering Center. On a practical level, Tereshkova noted that flannels were too small and not moist enough to wash her face, there was no provision to clean her teeth, and she reported that she only ate a little more than half of her food supply. However, this flight plan was altered in March 1963. [4] She became interested in parachuting from a young age, and trained in skydiving at the local Aeroclub, making her first jump at age 22 on 21 May 1959; at the time, she was employed as a textile worker in a local factory. NASA’s Karen Nyberg (left) is here pictured during training with Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. Aside from being a historic event in its own right, Valentina Tereshkova’s achievement served two purposes: it inspired a generation of young women and also helped to enable the development of a craft which has outlived Apollo and the shuttle, and upon which the International Space Station and its partners continue to depend for operational access to low-Earth orbit. Griffith Ingram chatted with Elizabeth about some of the artefacts in the Library, mentioning that a large portrait of a lady holding a bouquet was of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, on the occasion of her visit to London in 1964, when the BIS presented her with our Gold Medal in honour of her flight into orbit. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Beyond her recognized political offices within the Soviet Union, Tereshkova also became a well known representative of the Soviet Union abroad. In recent years, she has led a quiet life in Moscow. In the Soviet Union, the space agency actively sought a woman to fly, provided she could pass the training. She received the coveted Hero of the Soviet Union accolade, together with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. After a two-hour countdown, Valentina was launched skywards, becoming the first ever woman in space. The Gold Medal of the Society was introduced to celebrate famous achievements in Space, and the design on the obverse of the medal, designed by Mr R. Turner, was originally proposed as a badge for the Society. The historic first flight of a female cosmonaut was slated to concur with the second dual flight (a mission on which two craft would be in orbit at the same time, and ground control would maneuver them to within 5 km (3 miles) of each other). She is currently a member of the Duma, the Russian Parliament, serving as deputy chairperson of the Committee on the Federal Structure and Local Government. Undoubtedly, the achievement of Valentina Tereshkova inspired millions of girls and young women all over the world … including Peggy Whitson, who became the first female commander of the International Space Station and was, until last year, the chief of NASA’s astronaut corps. They divorced in 1982. Tereshkova was born in the village Maslennikovo, Tutayevsky District, Yaroslavl Oblast, in central Russia. And on 16 June 1963—five decades ago this month—an “ordinary” Russian textile worker-turned-pilot named Valentina Tereshkova accomplished something quite “extraordinary” and roared into orbit aboard Vostok-6. Tereshkova was married to fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev in November 1963. He proudly paraded her in Red Square and on 3 November 1963 gave her away at her marriage to fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev at the Moscow Wedding Palace. After her marriage, a daughter—Yelena—was born to the couple in June 1964, becoming the first child whose parents had both flown into space, but Nikolayev and Tereshkova were not even living together by the end of that year.