Full name: Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova
Famous for: First woman in space
Birth date: March, the 6th 1937
Birth place: Maslennikova village, Yaroslavl’ oblast’ (region), Russia, USSR
Father: Vladimir Tereshkov, tractor driver, killed during WWII
Mother: Elena Tereshkova, cotton mill worker
Family: Brother Vladimir, sister Ludmila
Attended space program: February the 16th, 1962
Pre-flight occupation: Textile-factory worker, Komsomol and Communist Party activist, amateur parachutist
Age at the first flight: 26
Rank at the first flight: Junior Lieutenant, Soviet Air Force
First mission name/code: Chaika (Seagull)
First mission date: June the 16th, 1963
First mission vessel: Vostok VI
Backup: Irina Solovyeva
Number of missions: 1
Total time in space: 70h, 50m – 2 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes
Space Exploration contribution: First Woman in Space, horizon photographs - later used for identifying aerosol layers
Post-flight career: Member of the Soviet government form ruling body at various levels from 1966 to 1989.
Education: M. Sc in SpaceEngineering 1969, Ph D in Engineering 1977, Doctorate of University of Edinburgh (honorary)
Retired: 1997
Retired Rank: Major General, Soviet Air force
Marriage: Andrian Nikolayev, November the 3rd, 1963, divorced in 1982.
2nd marriage: Yuli Shaposhnikov, 1982 (died in 1999)
Children: Daughter, Elena, born June, the 8th, 1964
Honors: Hero of Soviet Union, 2 orders of Lenin, Order of October Revolution, Karl Marx Order, United Nations Gold Medal of Peace, Hero of Vietnam Mongolia, numerous medals.
Other achievements and positions: Vice President of the International Woman’s Democratic Federation, President of the Soviet-Algerian Friendship Society.
Named after her: Crater at the far side of the moon, asteroid Chaika 1971
Famous phrase: "Sky, take off your hat!" - said before the flight.
