Vostok 6 - Valentina Tereshkova


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Another Soviet "First"

On June 14, 1963, Valery Bykovsky was launched with his Vostok 5 spacecraft for a new long-duration mission: more than 4 days in space - the longest solo flight. Two days later, Vostok 6 took off from Baykonur with a female passenger! Valentina Tereshkova, 26 years old, amateur parachutist. This amazing news set a new "first" for the Soviet astronautics. The two spaceship flew whithin few kilometers from each other only twice every orbit. This time, cosmonauts were allowed to manoeuver their ships and radio contact was estabilished between them.
Two years later Valentina had a baby, her name was Yelena and her father, and Valentina's hausband, was cosmonaut Adryan Nykolayev.
The second woman to fly in space will be Svetlana Savytskaya in 1982 onboard Soyuz-T 7 (mission to Salyut 7), 19 years later!
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina greets before entering the craft Valentina after her historic flight Valentina and Valery Bykovsky
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