Sixty years ago this June, a Soviet factory worker with a passion for parachuting became the first woman to fly in space. Twenty years and two days later, half a world away a tennis-playing astrophysicist followed suit to become the first American woman in space. This month, we take a look back at the flights of Valentina Tereshkova and Sally Ride - two individuals who forged the way for women in space. Yet while one's flight remained something of a one-off with little lasting effect on her nation's space programme, the other's was the start of a step-change in outlook that continues to this day.
Born on 6 March 1937, Valentina Tereshkova was the daughter of a tractor driver who died during World War II. Upon reaching adulthood, Tereshkova worked in a textile factory, continuing to study in her spare time. Unlike most future astronauts, she did not spend her childhood dreaming of space. Instead, it was a different passion that decided her path - parachuting. She began the hobby in 1959 after seeing an advertisement for a local club, and by the early '60s she was jumping competitively.
At the time, the Soviet Union dominated the Space Race. It had successfully put the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space, but there were concerns that the US might launch a female astronaut just so that they could claim that 'first'.
"We cannot allow that the first woman in space will be American," Nikolai Kamanin, director of cosmonaut training, wrote in his diary, and soon began seeking out potential candidates.
Previous cosmonauts had been drawn from the air force, but with no female pilots, Kamanin instead looked for experienced parachutists. They would need to be under 30, as well as under 5 foot 7 inches (1.7m) in order to fit into the single-person Vostok crew capsules. Tereshkova was one of five women who fitted the criteria and underwent cosmonaut training.
This story is from the June 2023 edition of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
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This story is from the June 2023 edition of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
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