Huzington
29th June 2003, 05:19 PM
Valentina Tereshkova was the only cosmonaut on board her spacecraft
Forty years ago, Russian woman Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. The Vostok-6 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome on June 16th, 1963, having taken Valentina Tereshkova to the orbit. Her space flight lasted for just three days, although it had a very special mission: Tereshkova proved that women could participate in the space exploration equally with men.
Valentina Tereshkova made a path for tens of other women, but still she remains the first woman in space. Furthermore, she flew into space without anyone else's space, in a single-seat spacecraft. Two other Russian women kept the tradition of being the first - they were lucky to orbit planet Earth too.
Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman, who came out into open space, whereas Elena Kondakova became the first woman, who had worked 169 days on the orbit. Unfortunately, the flight of the three-member female crew under Svetlana Savitskaya's command was not meant to happen in 1984 for various reasons. Until 1985, Valentina Tereshkova was hoping to fly into space again, but the fate willed otherwise, and first space lady devoted herself entirely to public activities. Itar-Tass news agency said that developed countries had honored Valentina Tereshkova's contribution to the space exploration with tens of awards.
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/10257_tereshkova.html
Forty years ago, Russian woman Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. The Vostok-6 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome on June 16th, 1963, having taken Valentina Tereshkova to the orbit. Her space flight lasted for just three days, although it had a very special mission: Tereshkova proved that women could participate in the space exploration equally with men.
Valentina Tereshkova made a path for tens of other women, but still she remains the first woman in space. Furthermore, she flew into space without anyone else's space, in a single-seat spacecraft. Two other Russian women kept the tradition of being the first - they were lucky to orbit planet Earth too.
Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman, who came out into open space, whereas Elena Kondakova became the first woman, who had worked 169 days on the orbit. Unfortunately, the flight of the three-member female crew under Svetlana Savitskaya's command was not meant to happen in 1984 for various reasons. Until 1985, Valentina Tereshkova was hoping to fly into space again, but the fate willed otherwise, and first space lady devoted herself entirely to public activities. Itar-Tass news agency said that developed countries had honored Valentina Tereshkova's contribution to the space exploration with tens of awards.
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/10257_tereshkova.html