Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova[a][b] (born 6 March 1937) is a Russian engineer, member of the
State Duma, and former Soviet
cosmonaut. She was the first
woman in space, having flown a solo mission on
Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission and is the last surviving
Vostok programme cosmonaut. She was the youngest woman to fly in space until 2023 when
Anastatia Mayers flew on
Galactic 02 at the age of 18. Since Mayers flew a suborbital mission, Tereshkova remains the youngest woman to fly in Earth orbit.
Before her selection for the
Soviet space programme, Tereshkova was a textile factory worker and an amateur
skydiver. She joined the
Air Force as part of the Cosmonaut Corps and was commissioned as an officer after completing her training. After the dissolution of the first group of female cosmonauts in 1969, Tereshkova remained in the space programme as a cosmonaut instructor. She later graduated from the
Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy and re-qualified for spaceflight, but never went to space again. She retired from the Air Force in 1997 having attained the rank of
major general.
Valentina Tereshkova was born on 6 March 1937 in the
Bolshoye Maslennikovo, a village on the
Volga River[2] 270 kilometres (170 mi) northeast of Moscow and part of the
Yaroslavl Oblast in central Russia.[3] Her parents had migrated from Belarus.[4] Her father, Vladimir Tereshkov,[5] was a former tractor driver and a
sergeant in command of a tank in the
Soviet Army. He died in the Finnish
Winter War when Tereshkova was two years of age.[2] He and her mother Elena Fyodorovna Tereshkova had three children.[5] After her father's death, her mother moved the family to
Yaroslavl, seeking better employment opportunity,[6][5] and became employed at the Krasny Perekop cotton mill.[2]
Tereshkova was first enrolled in school at age 8 and graduated at 16.[2] She began working at a tire factory, and later at a textile mill, but continued her education by taking correspondence courses and graduated from the Light Industry Technical School in 1960.[2][6][7] Tereshkova also became interested from a young age in parachuting, and trained in
skydiving at the local Aeroclub, making her first jump at age 22, on 21 May 1959. While still employed as a textile worker, she trained as a competitive
parachutist, keeping this a secret from her family.[3] Tereshkova also joined the local
Komsomol (Communist Youth League) in Yaroslavl, serving as the secretary of the organisation in 1960 and 1961. She became a member of the Communist Party in 1962.
Tereshkova had not expressed any particular desire to go into space before being recruited,[8] Rather, her experience at skydiving contributed to her selection as a cosmonaut.[9][10] After the flight of
Yuri Gagarin in 1961,
Nikolai Kamanin, director of cosmonaut training, read in the American media that
female pilots were training to be astronauts. In his diary, he wrote, "We cannot allow that the first woman in space will be American. This would be an insult to the patriotic feelings of Soviet women."[11] Approval was granted to place five female cosmonauts in the next group, which would begin training in 1963. To increase the odds of sending a Soviet woman into space first, the women cosmonauts began their training before the men.[11] The rules required that the potential cosmonaut be a parachutist under 30 years of age, less than 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) in height, no more than 70 kg (154 lb) in weight.[3] By January 1962, the All-Union Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Air Force and Navy (
DOSAAF) had selected 400 candidates for consideration. After the initial screening, 58 of those candidates met the requirements, which Kamanin reduced to 23. On 16 February 1962, Tereshkova was selected, along with four other candidates, to join the female cosmonaut corps.[12][13][14]
Since they had no military experience, they started with the rank of
private in the
Soviet Air Forces.[15] Training included isolation tests, centrifuge tests, thermo-chamber tests, decompression chamber testing, and pilot training in
MiG-15UTI jet fighters.[16] Tereshkova underwent water recovery training at sea, as part of which several motorboats were used to agitate the water, in order to simulate the rough conditions of space travel.[17] She also began studying at the
Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy and graduated a few years after her flight.[18] The group spent several months in basic training[16] and, after they finished their training and passed an examination, Kamanin offered them the option to be commissioned as regular Air Force officers. With advice from the male cosmonauts, they chose to accept Kamanin's offer, as it would make it harder for the programme to get rid of them after the first flight. All five women became
junior lieutenants in the Air Force in December 1962.[19][20]Tatyana Kuznetsova became ineligible for the first flight due to illness, and
Zhanna Yorkina was performing poorly in training, leaving Tereshkova,
Irina Solovyova, and
Valentina Ponomaryova as the leading candidates.[21]
Originally, a joint mission profile was developed that would involve launching two women into space, on solo Vostok flights, on consecutive days in March or April 1963.[22] It was intended that Tereshkova would launch first, in
Vostok 5, while Ponomaryova would follow her into orbit in
Vostok 6. However, this flight plan was altered in March 1963. Vostok 5 would now carry a male cosmonaut,
Valery Bykovsky, flying alongside a woman aboard Vostok 6, both to be launched in June 1963. The State Space Commission, at their meeting on 21 May, nominated Tereshkova to pilot Vostok 6. Kamanin called her "Gagarin in a skirt."[23]Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev was happy with the propaganda potential of her selection, since she was the daughter of a collective farm worker who had died in the Winter War; he confirmed her selection.[23] Solovyova was appointed as her first backup.[24] Tereshkova was promoted to lieutenant before her flight and to
captain mid-flight.[25]
After the successful launch of Vostok 5 on 14 June, Tereshkova began final preparations for her own flight. On the morning of 16 June 1963, Tereshkova and her backup Solovyova were both dressed in spacesuits and taken to the
launch pad by bus. Following the tradition set by Gagarin, Tereshkova also urinated on the bus tire, becoming the first woman to do so.[26] After completing her communication- and life-support checks, she was sealed inside the Vostok. After a two-hour countdown, Vostok 6 launched faultlessly, and Tereshkova became the first woman in space;[27] she remains the only woman to have flown into space solo, and, at 26 years of age, the youngest.[28][29][c] Her call sign on this flight was Chaika (Russian: Чайка,
lit. 'Seagull'); in commemoration, this name was later bestowed on an asteroid,
1671 Chaika.[31] After her launch, she radioed down:[32]
It is I, Seagull! Everything is fine. I see the horizon; it's a sky blue with a dark strip. How beautiful the Earth is ... everything is going well.
Vostok 6 was the final Vostok flight[33] and was launched two days after Vostok 5 which carried Bykovsky into a five-day mission.[34] The two vessels spent three days in orbital planes 30° apart and, during Tereshkova's first orbit, approached each other to within 5 km (3.1 mi).[34][32] Although they were able to communicate by radio, neither could be sure if they saw each other.[32][33] Cameras placed inside both the spacecraft transmitted live footage that was broadcast on
Soviet state television.[35][36] Tereshkova also maintained a flight log and took photographs of the horizon, which were later used to identify
aerosol layers within the
atmosphere.[37]
In this single flight, she logged more flight time than the combined times of all American astronauts who had flown before that date.[32] Her mission was used to continue the medical studies on humans in spaceflight and offered comparative data about the effects of space travel on women.[38] Although Tereshkova experienced
nausea and physical discomfort for much of the flight,[39] she orbited the earth 48 times and spent 2 days, 22 hours, and 50 minutes in space.[40]
As planned in all Vostok missions, Tereshkova ejected from the capsule during its descent at about four miles above the Earth[35] and made a parachute landing 620 km (385 mi) north-east of
Karaganda, Kazakhstan at 8:20 am
UTC on 19 June.[32] Bykovsky landed three hours after her.[41]
Tereshkova later disclosed that she encountered challenges in managing her parachute due to violent gusts of wind.[42] However, she landed safely but received a bruise on her nose, then she had dinner with some local villagers in the
Altai Krai who helped her to get out of her spacesuit.[43]
After the Vostok 6 flight
According to the Russian newspaper Pravda, one million flowers were brought in to celebrate the success of the dual flights and greet the cosmonauts in Moscow.[44] On 22 June 1963, Khrushchev greeted Bykovsky dressed in his uniform who saluted while Khrushchev hugged and kissed Tereshkova who was dressed in civilian attire. In front of the thousands in attendance, the Premier also announced that both the cosmonauts were awarded the
Hero of the Soviet Union medal. All three made speeches from atop
Lenin's Tomb on the
Red Square; Tereshkova said, "my father perished defending our country and my mother brought up her three children. We know the bitterness of that war. We don't need war," referring to the anniversary of the
German invasion of Russia that began 22 years ago that day.[45] Sometime after her mission, she was reportedly asked how the Soviet Union should thank her for her service to the country; Tereshkova requested that the government search for and publish the location of where her father was
killed in action. This was done, and a monument was erected at the site in the
Lemetti,
Karelia—now on the Russian side of the border.[2] The evening of 22 June, a reception was held in
the Kremlin in which both Bykovsky and Tereshkova were awarded the
Order of Lenin.[45]
Less than a week after her return from space, Moscow hosted the International Women's Congress on 24 June where Tereshkova and Bykovsky were greeted by a gathering of about 2,000 women from 119 countries.[46] Of all the Russian cosmonauts, Tereshkova received the most requests to visit foreign nations.[47] Her trips in particular required pre-approval from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Ministry of Defense, and the
KGB and were ultimately authorized by the Presidium of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party, the highest political bureau in the Soviet Union.[48]
All the Vostok cosmonauts toured extensively, but Tereshkova most of all; she made 42 trips abroad between 1963 and 1970.[49] On 1 October 1963, Tereshkova arrived in
Havana, Cuba, and met
Fidel Castro. She toured the country which at the time was dealing with effects of
Hurricane Flora.[50] The following month she presented a silver cup, which went to the team from the Soviet Union who won gold in all five boat classes, at the women's
1963 European Rowing Championships held in
Khimki near Moscow.[51] By February 1964, Tereshkova was pregnant when she visited
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom who was also pregnant at the time.[52] Except for a few-months break that year, Tereshkova went on a continuous and exhausting world tour, returning to her public duties only two months after the birth of her daughter.[47]
After her spaceflight, Tereshkova became a national and international role model. She received "congratulatory telegrams and letters... from around the world."[27] These telegrams express the impact that Tereshkova had on other countries, outside the Soviet Union. Women were particularly excited about her flight. For example, in New Delhi, Tereshkova was a "feminist standard bearer bringing a message of hope for 'enslaved' Indian womanhood."[53]
Tereshkova was a well-known representative of the Soviet Union abroad. She became a member of the
World Peace Council in 1966 and a member of the
Yaroslavl Soviet in 1967. She was also the Soviet representative to the UN Conference for the
International Women's Year in
Mexico City in 1975. She led the Soviet delegation to the World Conference on Women in Copenhagen and was "interested in
socialist internationalism and women's roles in guaranteeing world peace".[54] Tereshkova was also chosen for several political positions; she was a member of the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (1966–1974), a member of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party (1969–1991), and a member of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1974–1989).[55] She was appointed vice president of the International Woman's Democratic Federation and president of the Soviet-Algerian Friendship Society.[55]
Although she desired to continue pursuing a career as a cosmonaut and engineer, her superiors had a different plan for her in politics.[56] Following Gagarin's death, the Soviet space program was not willing to risk losing another hero.[57] Against her wishes, she was appointed as the leader of the Committee for Soviet Women in 1968.[56] A few months after she graduated with honours from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in October 1969,[58] the team of women cosmonauts was disbanded and a woman would not go to space again until
Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982.[56]
By 1976, Tereshkova was a
colonel in the Soviet Air Forces.[58] In April 1977, she earned a doctorate in
aeronautical engineering[59] and underwent the medical examinations to qualify for spaceflight when selection of a new class of women cosmonauts was announced in 1978.[57] Although she did not go to space again, she remained an instructor at the
Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.[60]
Later political career
She remained politically active following the
collapse of the Soviet Union but lost elections to the national
State Duma during 1995.[61] In the year 1995, Tereshkova was promoted to an honorary rank of
major general. On 28 April 1997, she left the
Russian Air Force due to reaching the age of
compulsory retirement at 60 years old.[58] In 2003, Tereshkova ran again for a seat in the State Duma.[61] In 2007, Tereshkova was invited to Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin's residence in
Novo-Ogaryovo for the celebration of her 70th birthday. While there she said that she would like to fly to Mars, even if it meant that it was a one-way trip.[62][63] She was later elected during 2008 to her
regional parliament, the
Yaroslavl Oblast Duma.[61]
On 18 September 2016, Tereshkova was re-elected to the
7th State Duma.[72] She serves as deputy chairperson of the Committee on the Federal Structure and Local Government.[65]
Valentina married cosmonaut
Andriyan Nikolayev on 3 November 1963 at the Moscow Wedding Palace with Khrushchev presiding at the wedding party together with top government and space programme leaders.[78] The marriage was encouraged by the Soviet space authorities as a "fairy-tale message to the country".[79] General Kamanin, head of the space programme, described it as "probably useful for politics and science".[80] On 8 June 1964, nearly one year after her space flight, she gave birth to their daughter Elena Andrianovna Nikolaeva-Tereshkova,[3] the first person whose parents had both travelled into space.[81]
Later in their marriage, the couple grew apart and refused to even stand next to each other in photographs. Tereshkova told the biographer
Antonella Kerr that the marriage ended in 1977;[58] she and Nikolayev divorced in 1982 and Tereshkova married Yuli Shaposhnikov, a surgeon she had met during her medical examinations to re-qualify as a cosmonaut.[57][79][d] They remained married until Shaposhnikov's death in 1999.[79]
Certificates of appreciation from the Government of the Russian Federation;
3 March 1997, – for the contribution to the development of space, the strengthening of international scientific and cultural ties and years of diligent work[88]
12 June 2003, – for large contribution to the development of crewed space flight[89]
16 June 2008, – for long-term fruitful state and public activities, considerable personal contribution to the development of crewed space flight and in connection with the 45th anniversary of spaceflight[90]
None of the other four in Tereshkova's early group flew and, in October 1969, the pioneering female cosmonaut group was dissolved. Even though there were plans for further flights by women, it took 19 years until the second woman,
Svetlana Savitskaya, flew into space.[22][38]
In 1997, London-based electronic pop group
Komputer released a song entitled "Valentina" which gives a more-or-less direct account of her career as a cosmonaut.[111][112] It was released as a single and appears on their album The World of Tomorrow.[113][114] The 2000 album Vostok 6 by
Kurt Swinghammer is a concept album about Tereshkova.[115] The 2015 album The Race for Space byPublic Service Broadcasting also has a song featuring the
Smoke Fairies entitled "Valentina".[116][117] In the same year,
Findlay Napier's album VIP: Very Interesting Persons included a song "Valentina", written in her honour by Napier and
Boo Hewerdine.[118] In 2015, a short film entitled Valentina's Dream was released by Meat Bingo Productions. The film stars
Rebecca Front as Tereshkova and is based on an interview by the former cosmonaut where she expressed a desire to journey to Mars.[119]
The Cosmos Museum was opened 25 January 1975 near Yaroslavl. Among its exhibits is a replica of her childhood home.[120] The city library was named after her in 2013.[121] The school she attended as a child was renamed for her.[122] A planetarium in Yaroslavl was built and named for her in 2011.[123][124] The International Women of the Year association named her as the "greatest woman achiever of the 20th century".[125][126] Tereshkova was a torchbearer of the
2008 Summer Olympics torch relay in
Saint Petersburg[127] and the
2014 Winter Olympics torch relay in
Sochi.[128]
Streets in Ukraine that bore Tereshkova's name have been renamed due to her support of
Russia's military actions against Ukraine and in accordance with the country's
2015 decommunisation law.[129][130] A proposal was also brought forward in 2015 to move a monument to Tereshkova in
Lviv, Ukraine to the Territory of Communist Terror Memorial Museum. Monuments of communist leaders are removed from the public and placed in the museum as part of decommunization efforts.[131] In January 2021, 24 Ukrainian streets were still named after Tereshkova; including a street in
Busk, located in
the same province as Lviv.[132] As of 2023, these streets have acquired new names, and there are no more objects named after Tereshkova in Ukraine.[133] The monument to Tereshkova in Lviv was dismantled in November 2023 and transferred to the Museum of Totalitarian Regimes.[134]
^"О присвоении квалификационных разрядов федеральным государственным служащим Российского центра международного научного и культурного сотрудничества при Правительстве Российской Федерации".
Decree No. 1441 of 26 October 1999 (in Russian).
President of Russia.
^"Valentina Tereshkova". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. 8 March 2017.
Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
^Gerovitch 2011, p. 94. "During the years 1961–70, the cosmonauts made two hundred trips abroad; Tereshkova alone made forty-two foreign trips. She received by far the most invitations among the cosmonauts."
^Oller, Jorge Oller (4 April 2019).
"Glorioso abril de 1961" [Glorious April 1961]. Cubaperiodistas.cu (in European Spanish). Unión de Periodistas de Cuba. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
^"Fünf Europatitel für UdSSR-Ruderinnen" [This website is dedicated to the Five European Titles for USSR women rowers]. Neues Deutschland (in German). Vol. 18, no. 247. 9 September 1963. p. 6.
Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
^Harrison, Selig S. (1963). "Cosmonauts Score hit in New Delhi". The Washington Post. pp. A22.
^Ghodsee, Kristen (Winter 2012). "Rethinking State Socialist Mass Women's Organizations: The Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement and the United Nations Decade for Women, 1975–1985". Journal of Women's History. 24 (4): 57.
doi:
10.1353/jowh.2012.0044.
S2CID144016452.
^
ab"Inductee Profile". International Space Hall of Fame :: New Mexico Museum of Space History. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
^"Терешкова Валентина Владимировна" [Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova]. Государственная Дума (in Russian).
Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
^Johannes Socher, "Farewell to the European Constitutional Tradition: The 2020 Russian Constitutional Amendments", Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (ZaöRV) = Heidelberg Journal of International Law (HJIL)2020, nr. 3, p. 639
^Randall, Margaret (1975). ""We Need a Government of Men and Women ...!" Notes on the Second National Congress of the Federacion de Mujeres Cubanos, November 25–29, 1974". Latin American Perspectives. 2 (4): 114, 117.
doi:
10.1177/0094582X7500200408.
ISSN0094-582X.
JSTOR2633222.
S2CID145264572.
Nikolaeva-Tereshkova, Valentina Vladimirovna (2015). "Preface". The 'First Lady of Space': In Her Own Words. Bethesda, MD: SpaceHistory101.com Press.
ISBN978-1-887022-99-6.
Sylvester, Roshanna P. (2011).
"She Orbits over the Sex Barrier". In Andrews, James T.; Siddiqi, Asif A. (eds.). Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture. University of Pittsburgh Press.
ISBN978-0-8229-7746-9.
Further reading
Abramov, Anatoly Petrovich (2022). I Look Back and Have No Regrets. "New format" Barnaul.
ISBN978-5-00202-034-8.
Eidelman, Tamara (May–June 2003). "The Extraordinary Destiny of an 'Ordinary' Woman". Russian Life. Vol. 46, no. 3. p. 19.
Eidelman, Tamara (May–June 2008). "The First Woman in Space". Russian Life. Vol. 51, no. 3. pp. 19–21.
Gauthier, Daniel (July–August 1991). "Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova". Ad Astra. Vol. 3, no. 6. p. 29.
Griswold, Robert (Summer 2012). "'Russian Blonde in Space': Soviet Women in the American Imagination, 1950–1965". Journal of Social History. 45 (4): 881–907.
doi:
10.1093/jsh/shr147.
S2CID143881424.
Lopota, C. A., ed. (2014). "S. P. Korolev". Encyclopedia of Life and Creativity.
RSC Energia. S. P. Korolev978-5-906674-04-3.
Lothian, Antonella (1993). Valentina: The First Woman in Space. The Pentland Press.
ISBN978-1-85821-064-3.
O'Neil, Bill (14 August 1993). "Whatever Became of Valentina Tereshkova?". New Scientist. Vol. 139, no. 1886. p. 21.
Ostashev, A. I. (2010). Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov: The Genius of the 20th Century. M. of Public Educational Institution of Higher Professional Training MGUL.
ISBN978-5-8135-0510-2.