On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel into space. After
48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to earth, having spent more
time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date.

Before her selection for the Soviet space program, Tereshkova
was a textile factory. She joined  the Air Force as part of the
Cosmonaut Corps and was commissioned as an officer after
completing her training.