16th June 1963: Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space on Vostock 6

Описание: Before being chosen for the Soviet space program, Valentina Tereshkova worked in a textile factory and was an amateur parachutist. This experience in skydiving contributed to her being one of the five women selected for training in 1962. After months of physical and technical preparation, she was chosen to fly the Vostok 6 mission, which was to run concurrently with Vostok 5.

On 14 June 1963 Vostok 5, piloted by cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Vostock 6, carrying Tereshkova, launched two days later. Over the course of nearly three days, she orbited the Earth 48 times, maintaining radio contact with Bykovsky using the call sign "Chaika," meaning "Seagull" in Russian. She conducted various experiments including observations of Earth and studies on the effects of space travel on the female body. Although she experienced nausea and discomfort throughout the mission, she completed her tasks successfully.

On 19 June, after re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, Tereshkova ejected from the capsule and parachuted to the ground, as was standard procedure in Vostok flights. She landed near the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.

Tereshkova’s mission received international attention and was widely publicised by the Soviet government as evidence of progress in space exploration and gender equality. She was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and became a prominent public figure. No other woman would travel to space until 1982, when Svetlana Savitskaya, also from the Soviet Union, made a flight.