Valentina Tereshkova: The Textile Worker Who Became First Woman in Space

Valentina Tereshkova was born on 6 March 1937 in Maslennikovo near Yaroslavl, Russia.

Tereshkova first performed a parachute jump in 1959, and this skill later became the reason she entered the space programme. During the Soviet Union’s Vostok mission, cosmonauts had to separate from the capsule and land using parachutes, making this ability essential.

The selection process began among around 400 candidates. From them, 40 people were called for interviews, and finally, only five women were chosen for training. Tereshkova emerged as the leading candidate among them and was selected for the space mission.

On 16 June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova launched into space aboard Vostok-6. She was only 26 years old at the time and remains the youngest woman to have travelled into space. Her mission lasted about 2 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes, during which she completed 48 orbits around Earth. The remarkable part of the mission was that she completed the journey alone.

At that time, Tereshkova had spent more time alone in space than the combined total time of all American astronauts who had travelled into space before her.

Later, Tereshkova revealed that a major technical error had occurred during her mission. The spacecraft’s programme was set for moving upward but not for returning downward. It was a serious problem that was later corrected by ground control. Tereshkova also revealed that she requested that the engineer responsible should not be punished, and in return, the mistake was not made public for many years. However, this incident is viewed as part of her personal experience.

Although Tereshkova’s mission was completely successful, she also faced criticism afterwards. Some people questioned her performance, but she rejected those claims and stated that she completed all the tasks assigned during the mission.

After her journey, it took 19 years for the next woman to travel into space. Even today, Tereshkova remains the only woman to have completed a solo space mission. This information is based on a report published by The European Space Agency (ESA).