The first woman in space biography

On 16 June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. On a solo mission on the Vostok 6, she orbited Earth 48 times, logging more than 70 hours in space – just under 3 days.

With that single flight, Tereshkova logged more flight time than the all the US Mercury astronauts who had flown to that date combined.

Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, had orbited the earth once; the US Mercury astronauts had orbited a total of 36 times.

Whilst overlooked in notoriety to her male counterparts, Valentina Tereshkova remains the only woman to have been on a solo space mission, and also the youngest woman to have flown in space.

Valentina Tereshkova Biography - life, parents, school ...

Here are 10 facts about this brave and pioneering woman.

1. Her parents worked on a collective farm, and her father was killed during World War Two

Tereshkova was born on 6 March 1937 in the Bolshoye Maslennikovo village on the Volga River, 170 miles northeast of Moscow. Her father was a former tractor driver and her mother worked in a textil Valentina Tereshkova - Facts, Age & Family - Biography NOFI