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.

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was born to a peasant family
in Maslennikovo, Russia, in 1937. She began work at a textile
factory when she was 18, and at age 22 she made her first
parachute jump under the auspices of a local aviation club.

Her enthusiasm for skydiving brought her to the attention of the
Soviet space program, which sought to put a woman in space in
the early 1960s as a means of achieving another “space first”
before the United States.

    
Tereshkova, and Nikita Khrushchev at Lenin’s Mausoleum
on 22 June 1963.

Tereshkova (87) in 2024.