Post #984

👩‍🚀#OnThisDay 60 years ago, Soviet citizen Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Her mission aboard the Vostok-6 spacecraft became a world sensation and inspired millions of women in the Soviet Union and abroad. The issue of launching a female cosmonaut was raised immediately after Yury Gagarin’s triumphant return from orbit. The goal was to compare the impact of outer space on male and female bodies and to study the possibility of launching civilian specialists into space in future. 🚀 The Vostok-6 flight lasted for two days, 22 hours and 50 minutes and circled the Earth 48 times. Tereshkova made the flight alone; this was never again repeated later. She maintained radio communications with Vostok-5, piloted by Valery Bykovsky. The first woman in space successfully accomplished her mission. For example, she was able to take pictures of the horizon, and these photos later made it possible to locate aerosol layers in the atmosphere. She violated her strict instructions only after landing in the Altai Territory. While there, she handed out space food tubes to local residents and partook of potatoes and Koumiss, fermented mare’s milk. 🎖Valentina, then 26, lifted off as a Lieutenant and came back a Captain. Three days after landing, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Later, she was made a Hero of Socialist Labour of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Mongolia and became an honorary citizen of 18 Russian and foreign cities. Tereshkova became the sixth Soviet cosmonaut, the 12th person in space and the youngest woman in orbit. Her daughter Yelena became the first child both of whose parents were cosmonauts.