In what year Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman cosmonaut, flew, you will learn from this article.
When did Valentina Tereshkova fly into space?
The first female cosmonaut flew on a spacecraft called Vostok-6 into outer space on June 16, 1963. At the same time, the Vostok-5 spacecraft was in orbit, piloted by Valeria Bykovsky. On the day of her space flight, she told her parents that she was going to the skydiving competition. They learned the real reason for their daughter's departure from the radio.
Valentina Tereshkova how long did the flight last?
The woman endured the flight quite hard - she was constantly sick and vomited. She steadfastly withstood in space for almost three days and made 48 revolutions around the planet. During all this time, as long as Valentina Tereshkova was in space, the cosmonaut took photographs of the horizon and kept a logbook. After her, the woman flew into outer space 19 years later.
The cabin of the "Vostok" was very cramped, and the designers called it a tin can. Considering that the astronaut who was in it was dressed in a spacesuit, it is difficult to move in the cabin. It is really hard to spend 3 days in such conditions.
When landing, Valentina Tereshkova ejected unsuccessfully and hit her head on the helmet. She ended up landing with a bruise on her temple and cheek. The woman was unconscious. Therefore, she was urgently sent to the hospital, where, after long examinations, the doctors said that there was no threat to her health.
Valentina Tereshkova forever inscribed her name in the history of space exploration. But the details of the first flight of a woman to the stars are not known to everyone. We picked up some interesting facts about the legendary woman.
Training
One of the main goals of sending a woman into space was to study the influence of the environment on the female body.
A group of female astronauts was trained using an accelerated program, taking into account the experience of the first flights - in just 6 months.
The training took place in a thermal chamber with a temperature of up to +70 degrees Celsius. Another exercise is 10 days in a sound chamber in absolute silence and complete isolation from the rest of the world.
Valentina Tereshkova was part of a group of five female candidates. According to the team members, she did not stand out from the rest, she was not a clear leader. During preparation, none of the five girls could be called either the main contender or the dark horse. The level of preparation of applicants was approximately the same. 
Due to physiological characteristics, each female astronaut had to have two understudies.
Gagarin personally devoted a lot of time and effort to training a group of female cosmonauts, which included Valentina. There is a legend that the call sign "Seagull", which was used by Valentina, was personally invented by Yuri Alekseevich.
The preparation was led by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Later, he recalled that he initially set the girls a condition - not to be offended. There were several candidates, but only one was supposed to fly. The girls passed this test with dignity. Instead of resentment and regret, they chose work and training.
The choice is made
Valentina Tereshkova was chosen as the main candidate for the flight. The basis was a combination of several factors, including its origin from the people, health, knowledge. Communication skills were also important, because after the flight, the first woman astronaut would have to perform a number of social functions and interact with the press. 
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had a direct influence on the choice of Tereshkova's candidacy for the first flight.
When the name of Valentina was announced, the rest of her associates continued to do their job.
Start
The ship was named "Vostok-6". The first flight of a woman into space took place on June 16-19, 1963. The duration was 2 days 22 hours and 50 minutes.
During the launch, Valentina read Mayakovsky: “Heaven! Take off your hat! I'm going!" These words entered the history of space exploration, like Gagarin's "Let's go!". 
According to Korolev, Valentina survived the start with dignity. And this, it is worth noting, is not easy even for every prepared man. The girl coped with overloads and did not even think to panic.
In orbit
During the flight, the spacecraft made 48 revolutions around the Earth.
Valentina Tereshkova is the only female cosmonaut to have made a solo space flight.
During the flight, another ship appeared in space, Vostok-5, piloted by Soviet cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky. Valentina and Valery had several space communication sessions.
In space, Valentina felt great discomfort, being in a difficult position for several days. But during the flight, she reported to Earth only that all the ship's systems were working properly.
Much later, "The Seagull" admitted that she was terribly tired. Not everyone is able to spend three days without moving, doing the most difficult work. In one of the sessions, the control center was unable to contact her. It turned out that the brave girl was sleeping. Valentine had to wake up.
Return
Few people know that not everything went smoothly. Valentina unsuccessfully tried several times to align the ship on the trajectory, but it turned in the opposite direction, and not towards the home planet. There was a risk that the "Seagull" would not be able to take the ship out of orbit. However, the efforts were nevertheless crowned with success.
During the landing, the first woman astronaut saw the lake below. Of course, in the water there would be no problem landing, because she was trained in everything. But still, certain difficulties and risks existed. As a result, Tereshkova still managed to land on the shore.
During landing, the first female astronaut received a bruise on her face. But for the photo shoot, he was quickly made up.
Immediately after the flight, she had to go to the hospital due to poor health. The girl was almost unconscious, she was urgently hospitalized. By the evening of the same day, the doctors found that nothing threatened Valentina's health or life.
The footage of the return of the legendary "The Seagull" is staged, from the first to the last. The shooting took place immediately after the return of Valentina from the hospital. In the frame, she is surrounded by extras. But it is hardly worth condemning this: the whole world remembered the happy smiling face of the first woman who returned from space, and this is the best illustration of her victory, which is so important and significant for the whole large country and the planet as a whole. 
unearthly hunger
During the flight, Tereshkova practically did not eat.
An amazing fact: after landing in the Baevsky district (Altai Territory), Valentina, communicating with people who met her on Earth, happily enjoyed local dishes in violation of all the rules. She gave the space food brought back to Earth to the locals.
The price of people's love
On June 20, in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), an attempt was made to organize a meeting of cosmonauts Bykovsky and Tereshkova with the people. The attention of the masses was so great that a stampede began in the crowd, not without casualties. Many people on the streets expressed indignation at the fact that they were unable to get to the astronauts and talk in person. 
A family
Valentina's father was a simple tractor driver. He died during the Russian-Finnish war, never knowing that his daughter had become a conqueror of space. Mother worked on a collective farm.
Tereshkova's relatives learned about her flight from the news. Valentina told the family that she was going to a skydiving competition.
In 1964, Valentina Tereshkova had a daughter, Elena. This is the first child in the world born to an astronaut who has been in orbit. Now two granddaughters are growing up in the Tereshkova family. 
The girl in her youth became interested in parachuting, which played a significant role in choosing a future profession. She made 163 parachute jumps.
In 1969, there was an attempted assassination of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The shooter did not know which car Brezhnev was in and fired at random. He got into the car with the astronauts. Valentina Tereshkova was not injured, but the driver was killed. 
The favorite planet of the first female astronaut is Mars. Valentina Tereshkova dreamed of flying there with Sergei Korolev. She has repeatedly stated that she is ready to fly to Mars, even if the flight is one way. 
Tereshkova became the first female general in the Soviet Army. She retired upon reaching the limit for service in the rank of Major General of Aviation.
Valentina Vladimirovna has always taken an active civic position. Currently, he is a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation (from the United Russia party).
She was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. He also has the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the Order of Honor, the Order of Friendship, the Order of Alexander Nevsky. He is a Hero of the Soviet Union.
One of the lunar craters and a minor planet were named after her. There is a bronze bust of Tereshkova on the Alley of Space Heroes in Moscow.
The next female cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya (USSR) went into space only 19 years later, in 1982.
Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman to go into space. To this day, she remains the only woman in the world who went on a space flight alone, without assistants and partners. She also became the first woman in Russia to be awarded the rank of Major General. It was in this rank that Tereshkova retired in 1997, at the age of sixty. Valentina Tereshkova forever inscribed her name in the history of the Soviet Union, Russia and the whole world.
Childhood and youth
The biography of this woman begins in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Yaroslavl Region. Valentina's parents were Belarusian peasants. The mother of the future conqueror of outer space worked at a textile enterprise, and her father was a tractor driver. He participated in the battles during the Soviet-Finnish war and died.
Young Tereshkova attended the Yaroslavl school, received high marks, and also learned to play the dombra (the girl had a good ear for music). Having completed her basic seven-year school education, she decided to help her mother in supporting the family and got a job as a bracelet maker at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant. However, the purposeful girl was not going to give up her education: she combined work with studies at an evening school.
The next stage in the life of Valentina Vladimirovna also did not foreshadow the heights that she was to achieve. So, she studied in absentia at the technical school of light industry and worked for seven years as a weaver at a nearby plant called Krasny Perekop. At this time, Tereshkova began to get involved in parachuting. She gladly went to the local flying club and fearlessly jumped from great heights.
astronautics
Valentina's new hobby sealed her fate. By a happy coincidence, just at that time, a Soviet scientist set about trying to send a woman into space. The idea was accepted favorably, and at the beginning of 1962, the search began for that representative of the fair sex, who was to receive the proud title of "astronaut". The criteria were as follows: a parachutist under the age of 30, weighing up to 70 kg, height up to 170 cm.
There were surprisingly many Soviet women who wanted to go into space. Workers in the Soviet cosmonautics industry were looking for the ideal candidate from hundreds of candidates. As a result of a tough selection, five "finalists" were determined: Irina Solovieva, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Zhanna Yorkina, Valentina Ponomareva and Valentina Tereshkova.
The girls were officially called up for military service, received the rank of privates and began to train hard. Initially, Tereshkova went through a training program with the rank of student-cosmonaut of the second detachment, but already in 1962, having successfully passed the exams, she became an astronaut of the first detachment of the first department.
The training included techniques for developing the body's resistance to the peculiarities of space flight. So, for example, the girls learned to move in weightlessness, tested the body's resources in a thermal chamber and an isolation chamber, performed parachute training, and mastered the use of a spacesuit. Training in the isolation chamber (a room isolated from external sounds) lasted for 10 days. Each of the five contenders for the role of the first female cosmonaut spent 10 days in the illusion of complete silence and loneliness.
When choosing the applicant who was to make the planned flight, the following was taken into account:
- training, level of practical training, knowledge of theory, results of medical examinations;
- origin (the fact that Valentina Vladimirovna came from a simple working-class family that lost its breadwinner during the war played into her hands);
- the ability to conduct social activities, glorifying the Communist Party.
If the other candidates were not inferior to Tereshkova on the first two points, then she had no equal in public speaking skills. Valentina Vladimirovna easily communicated with journalists and other people, gave concise and natural answers to questions, while not forgetting to screw in a few words about the greatness of the Communist Party. In the end, she was chosen as the main candidate for space flight. Irina Solovieva received the status of a backup cosmonaut, and Valentina Ponomareva was appointed as a reserve applicant.
Space flight
The first woman went into space on June 16, 1963. The flight lasted 3 days. Valentina Tereshkova went into space on the Vostok-6 spacecraft, which took off from Baikonur (not from the site from which it launched, but from a backup). The way the first woman-cosmonaut conducted the launch, what reports she voiced, was highly appreciated by specialists. They assured that Tereshkova had a better launch than experienced male cosmonauts.
Soon after the start, Tereshkova's health deteriorated, she moved little, did not eat, and sluggishly negotiated with ground stations. Nevertheless, she lasted three days, 48 revolutions around the Earth, and throughout the flight she regularly kept a logbook.
Some time before the intended landing, the first female astronaut had problems with the spacecraft's equipment. Due to incorrect installation of control wires, Valentina Tereshkova did not manually orient the ship. However, Cosmos 6 was nevertheless oriented and landed on the Earth's surface thanks to the use of automatic mode, in which such a problem did not arise.
At the end of the flight (the ship arrived in the Altai Territory), Valentina Vladimirovna distributed food from her diet to local residents, and she herself ate the traditional food of these places. This, like Tereshkova's poor health, as well as problems with the orientation of the ship, upset Sergei Korolev. He even promised not to let another woman into space until his death. The next such flight took place much later than the departure of a gifted engineer from life.
Subsequent career
Since then, Valentina Tereshkova has not flown into space again. She became an instructor-cosmonaut, worked at the Cosmonaut Training Center as a senior researcher, even graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, becoming a professor and writing over five dozen scientific papers. Valentina Vladimirovna declared that she was ready (for a one-way flight).
Tereshkova continues to engage in politics. During the Soviet Union, she was a member of the CPSU, and in the 2000s she was elected to the regional Duma of her native Yaroslavl region from the United Russia party. She also participated in the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014, became the president of the Memory of Generations charity foundation, and contributed to the opening of the university and a number of other institutions in Yaroslavl.
Personal life
The first husband of the first female cosmonaut was cosmonaut Adrian Nikolaev. The wedding ceremony took place in 1963, and guests of this ceremony can be seen in the photo. The family broke up in 1982, when the daughters of Adrian and Valentina, Elena Tereshkova, turned 18 years old. Subsequently, Tereshkova admitted that in the circle of close people, her husband showed himself to be a despot, which is why their relationship came to naught.
The second husband of Valentina Vladimirovna was Major General of the Medical Service Yuli Shaposhnikov. No children were born in this marriage. But Elena Tereshkova gave the mother of her grandchildren Alexei Mayorov and Andrei Rodionov. It is noteworthy that both Elena's husbands turned out to be pilots. The only heiress of Valentina Tereshkova herself works at CITO as an orthopedic surgeon.
Valentina Vladimirovna celebrated her 80th birthday on March 6, 2017. She is a retired major general, spends a lot of time with her family, and also continues to pursue a political career. So, in 2016, during the next parliamentary elections, Tereshkova was elected to the State Duma. The first female cosmonaut loves her native region very much, strives to help the Yaroslavl orphanage, her native school, improve the city and help open new educational, industrial, infrastructure institutions in it.
Despite her retirement age, Valentina Tereshkova boasts good health. In 2004, she underwent complex heart surgery, otherwise she would have suffered a heart attack. Since then, no serious health problems have been reported for Valentina Vladimirovna, and based on her active work, one can conclude that they are absent.
- To increase the motivation of the five girls who were contenders for the role of the first female cosmonaut, Sergei Korolev promised that all of them, sooner or later, fly into space. In reality, this did not happen.
- It was originally planned to simultaneously send two women on different spacecraft, but in 1963 this plan was abandoned. Two days before Valentina Tereshkova's flight, Valery Bykovsky went into space on the Vostok-5 spacecraft. He spent 5 days outside our planet. This is a solo flight record that remains to this day.
- The footage of the newsreel that was shown to the Soviet people and the whole world was staged. They were filmed a day after Valentina Vladimirovna's real arrival on Earth, since in the first hours after her return she felt very unwell and was hospitalized.
Her name was Chaika. It was her call sign in space. And on Earth, on the roof of her house, there is a weather vane in the form of this bird. Her mansion is located next to Star City. At one time, she was able to make a space flight alone. She is Valentina Tereshkova. Read the details of the flight into space of this fragile woman in the article.
Difficult military childhood
The biography of Valentina Tereshkova began in the spring of 1937 in one of the villages of the Yaroslavl province. Her parents were from Belarus. The mother of the astronaut worked at a textile enterprise, and her father was a tractor driver. Unfortunately, her dad died during the Soviet-Finnish conflict. Accordingly, the entire household and the upbringing of three children fell on the shoulders of the mother. Moreover, the Great Patriotic War soon began.
Undoubtedly, the childhood of little Valya turned out to be very difficult. Devastation and despair reigned in the country.
When this terrible war ended, the future astronaut went to first grade. She studied quite well. In addition, she had a good ear for music. That is why she began to learn to play the domra.
However, when she finished the seventh grade, she had to go to night school. She was forced to help her mother and earn money. Thus, young Valentina moved to Yaroslavl and got a job there at a tire factory.
When she graduated from high school, she entered the technical school of light industry. Of course, within these walls she comprehended science in absentia, like most young people in those days.
Aeroclub in Yaroslavl
Becoming a student, on the weekends Valentina began to visit the city flying club. Skydiving was practiced in this institution. And she really liked these lessons.
In general, the future cosmonaut completed more than 160 jumps. By and large, this was a solid indicator, especially for the fairer sex. Valentina was even assigned a sports category.
In fact, she could no longer imagine herself without parachuting. And thanks to this hobby, he began to join the team of space explorers.
In the cosmonaut corps
After graduating from a technical school, and this happened in 1960, Valentina got a job at a factory called Krasny Perekop. In addition to the direct working process, she headed the Komsomol organization there.
In a word, her life and career seemed to develop according to the standard scenario for a Soviet person. However, chance intervened in this story. The fact is that in 1962, Academician Sergei Korolev intended to send a woman into space. Of course, members of the Central Committee of the first Soviet state, including General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, also approved this idea.
To implement a bold plan, the project leaders began to look for a suitable candidate. We note right away that there were a lot of people who wanted to go into space. Space industry workers had to search for applicants from hundreds of possible ones.
At the same time, strict requirements were imposed on all participants in the selection. Representatives of the weaker sex should weigh no more than 70 kg, height - 170 cm. In addition, these girls should have a decent amount of skydiving in their assets.
There was another important factor as well. When choosing, leaders took into account a number of aspects of ideological and political literacy. They also considered the candidates' ability to public activities. As a parachuting sportswoman and head of the factory Komsomol organization, Tereshkova, in principle, was an ideal contender. She fit all criteria. In a word, she was considered an ideologically reliable person.
As a result, five girls were chosen for a woman-managed flight into space. Of course, Tereshkova was one of them. All of them were officially called up for military service. They became privates and began to train hard. And the conditions in the classroom were quite tough. Let's say they had to spend ten whole days in a sound chamber.
They say that the project leaders chose Tatyana Morozycheva as a result. By the way, Valentina worked with her at the Yaroslavl club. And she made more parachute jumps than Tereshkova.
Be that as it may, the members of the last medical board found out that Tatyana was pregnant. Thus, it finally became clear that Valentina would go into space after all.
Flight
When she realized that she would soon be in space, she tried to hide her plans from her family. She said then that she was going to leave for the next parachuting competition.
So in what year did Valentina Tereshkova fly? The event took place in the middle of the summer of 1963. Her call sign was Seagull. The launch of Vostok-6 went without problems. The first space flight of Valentina Tereshkova lasted more than two days. During this time, the device made 48 orbits around the Earth.
The woman endured the space voyage rather badly. The duration of Valentina Tereshkova's flight in space is 70 hours. But they turned out to be literally hell for her.
As it turned out, there was an inaccuracy in the Vostok-6 automatic program. The fact is that the ship was oriented somewhat differently than it should have been. And Tereshkova did not approach the planet at all, but moved away from it. She was nauseated, her head was spinning. At the same time, the spacesuit was not allowed to be removed. On the second day of the flight, my lower leg began to hurt.
Valentina Tereshkova in space was forced to drastically limit her movements. She sat almost motionless. However, she still managed to put new data into the computer. By the way, she did not tell anyone about this state of emergency, except for the flight leaders. Actually, Korolev himself then asked her to remain silent.
The problems that the astronaut had had had an explanation in terms of physiology. They say that when the medical commission examined her before the flight, the results were very poor. However, at the direction of Khrushchev, she was still allowed to go on a flight.
Be that as it may, despite her physical condition during the flight into space, Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna was able to withstand all the tests. She managed not only to regularly keep a journal on board, but also to take pictures. Subsequently, these images were useful in further space travel. In a word, she held on and sent extremely positive reports to Earth.
Landing
The spacecraft landed in Altai. True, when, after a flight into space, Valentina Tereshkova (year - 1963) ejected, she hit her helmet very hard. She received a large bruise on her temple and cheek. As a result, when she was found, she was practically unconscious.
She was urgently brought to the capital and hospitalized. And a little later, doctors reported that the life and health of the first female cosmonaut was out of danger.
When she finally came to her senses, the newsreel staff managed to make a staged shooting. As if after the flight into space, Valentina Tereshkova (date of the event - June 16, 1963) was in the apparatus. Extras ran towards him. Then they opened the lid and saw a cheerful and smiling Tereshkova. These shots then circled the entire planet.
Subsequently, as a reward, Tereshkova was given a three-room apartment in her homeland, in Yaroslavl. Here she lived for almost three years, after which she finally settled in the capital.
Symbol woman
The seagull actually returned from space as a female symbol. The fairer sex began to imitate her. They did haircuts under Tereshkova. Wristwatches with the name "Seagull" appeared in stores.
Party leaders constantly invited her to the Kremlin receptions. And a number of public organizations included it in the meetings.
The government gave her, in addition to the Hero's star, prestigious awards. She became the only female general in the Soviet army. In addition, she became the hero of such republics as Mongolia and Bulgaria.
She also received the title of "The Greatest Woman of the Twentieth Century". A small planet, streets in cities, the Evpatoria embankment, a square in Tver, city schools, a museum and a planetarium were named in her honor. In addition, one of the lunar craters was named after her.
Public figure
After the flight into space, Valentina Tereshkova (you already know the date of the event) began working as an instructor and tester of spacecraft.
Two years later, she began studying at the Air Force Academy and five years later received a red diploma.
During her studies, she wrote almost fifty working papers in this specialization. But since 1966, she has been actively engaged in social activities. She became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. She was also the second person in the International Women's Federation. It was then that she began to be called the Iron Lady.
To be honest, Tereshkova was very burdened by this party load. She said that she did not receive any money for her social work. And always dreamed of a new flight. She even tried to break into a new detachment of astronauts. However, after the death of Gagarin, the Soviet government decided to protect the "first".
Valentina continued to be interested in space. She dreamed of flying to Mars. At the same time, she understood that this flight would be one way ...
In the 90s, she was the head of the Association for International Cooperation and the Council for the Coordination of the Activities of Russian Science Centers.
And at the end of this decade, she began working at the Cosmonaut Training Center. She received the post of senior researcher there.
Present time
Since 2008, Tereshkova has collaborated with the United Russia party. She was a member of the State Duma. She always helped her Yaroslavl school and some other children's institutions. Thanks to her, a university, a planetarium and a river station were opened in Yaroslavl.
In the spring of 2008, she turned out to be the torchbearer of the domestic stage of the games in Beijing.
Three years later, she again became the people's choice.
In 2014, she carried the Russian flag at the Sochi Olympics.
And in 2015, she headed a non-profit charitable foundation called "Memory of Generations".
In 2016, she once again won the election race, becoming a deputy of the State Duma.
Orbital marriage
Five months after the landmark flight into space, Valentina Tereshkova (year - 1963) got married. Her chosen one was cosmonaut Andrian Nikolaev. This move came as a surprise to many. At least the residents of Yaroslavl knew that she allegedly had a fiancé. True, the journalists could not find him.
Be that as it may, the 35-year-old cosmonaut Nikolaev was actually courting the young Valentina. She was then twenty-six. Many believed that this relationship would not last long. They were too different - strong and strong-willed. They say that the head of the Soviet state Nikita Khrushchev himself betrothed them. There was no such stellar, cosmic, orbital pair back then. But this marriage still lasted for nineteen years.
The couple also had their first child - daughter Lena. At one time, she graduated with honors from both school and medical school. She works as an orthopedic surgeon. She has two sons - Alexey and Andrey.
In the late 70s, the space couple began to appear less frequently together. Divorce was out of the question. For for "immorality" Nikolaev could easily be fired from the cosmonaut corps. Moreover, in fact, then two applicants for astronauts were expelled due to divorces. Yes, and Tereshkova, the head of the Committee, is somehow uncomfortable being in a state of divorce.
They say Brezhnev saved the situation. He personally agreed to this divorce. By this time, Tereshkova was in love again.
Second marriage
With a new chosen one, Valentina Tereshkova, whose photo you have the opportunity to see in the article, met back in 1978. By this time, she was again in the cosmonaut corps and hoped that she would go on her new space journey. And Julius Shaposhnikov served in the medical academy in those days. He checked the health of the astronauts. Employees called him "hard worker" and "humble". And Valentina herself always also spoke warmly about him.
Then it was clear that they were in love. They say that because of the new novel, Shaposhnikov left his family.
They lived together for nearly two decades. During this time, Tereshkova's husband was able to head the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics. He also became a major general. But in 1999 he died due to cancer.
recent history
At the moment, Tereshkova has practically no close people left. There was a time when she loved her own younger brother very much. His name was Vladimir. He worked as a cameraman in Star City. A few years ago he was gone.
Mom Valentina is also long gone. Until the last, she was looking for her father. As mentioned earlier, he died during the Soviet-Finnish war. It was known that he died a heroic death on the territory of the Karelian Isthmus. But his grave, of course, did not exist then. And only in the late 80s, the head of the defense department, D. Yazov, helped her find his burial place. He was able to allocate funds to fly around the area. As a result, a mass grave was found in the forest. Tereshkova was even able to erect a monument there. Since then, she regularly visits this place.
Despite her age, she still boasts of her good health. Although in 2004 she underwent heart surgery. Otherwise, she would have suffered a heart attack.
Until recently, Chaika continues to do a lot for his native region. And in 1996, the head of the school where she studied fell ill. At this point, the teacher needed an urgent operation. Thanks to Valentina, she was operated on in the capital. And for free.
The female symbol has great connections. However, little is known about this side of her life. In the 80s, she "closed" from the media because of the stupidest articles about her. Her silence was broken only a few years ago.
Exactly 56 years ago, Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman, went into space. We want to remember her landmark space expedition.
The dream of going to space has not left humanity for centuries. April 12, 1961 she was destined to be fulfilled - Yuri Gagarin made the first flight. After the successful flights of Soviet cosmonauts, Sergei Korolev had the idea to launch a woman cosmonaut into space. She became Valentina Tereshkova, having made a flight into space on June 16, 1963 on the Vostok-6 spacecraft.
Medical examination of Valentina Tereshkova.
The first space flights took place in the conditions of fierce competition between the USSR and the USA. Both superpowers worked to ensure that their ships plowed the expanses of the universe. But, as you know, the palm in this matter belonged to the Soviet Union. After the debut "male" flight, the Americans had only one trump card - to prepare a "female" flight. But even here the Soviet cosmonauts were ahead of them. As soon as information was received in the Land of Soviets about the preparation of the American "women's team", Nikita Khrushchev personally insisted that a competitive selection should also be held among Soviet women.
There were many applicants for the role of the woman who will be the first in space. Such a scale would be the envy of any modern beauty contests: out of 800 participants in the contest, 30 made it to the “finals”. They began to prepare them for a decisive flight. In the process of preparation, five best candidates were selected, and Valentina Tereshkova was by no means the first in this rating. According to medical indicators, she did take the last place.
The girls went through difficult tests: they were placed in extremely high temperatures and in rooms with high humidity, they had to try themselves in weightlessness and learn to land on water by parachuting (training was needed to land during the landing of the spacecraft).
Psychological testing was also carried out: it was important to understand how comfortable women would be during their stay in space (by the way, Tereshkova’s experience turned out to be unique in that she was alone in space for almost three days, all later flights were made by a duet).
Khrushchev himself made the decision about who would fly into space. The story of Valentina Tereshkova perfectly suited the ideal of a “girl from the people”, who achieved everything with her own work. Valentina had a simple family, she herself was born in the village and worked at a weaving factory, she never went in for skydiving professionally, in total she had less than 100 jumps. In a word, the heroine from the people fully corresponded to the desired ideal.
Tereshkova's spacecraft was launched on June 16, 1963. She flew on the ship "Vostok-6". Valentina Tereshkova can rightly be called a heroine, since during the flight she faced a huge number of difficulties, but she survived all the trials with dignity.
The main problem turned out to be poor health: nausea, lethargy, drowsiness - all this had to be fought. There was even a case recorded that Valentina stopped responding to requests from the Earth: it turned out that she simply fell asleep from overwork. Only Valery Bykovsky, another Soviet cosmonaut, who was in orbit at the time, was able to wake her up. Between their ships there was an internal communication through which the astronauts could communicate.
However, the most terrible test, about which the official authorities were silent for a long time, was a malfunction in the mechanism of Tereshkova's ship. Instead of landing on Earth, she risked flying into space and dying. Miraculously, Gagarin, who was following the flight, managed to figure out how to remedy the situation, and Valentina Tereshkova was still able to return.
Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova.
Landing in the Altai Territory was not easy. The exhausted female astronaut literally fell on the head of the locals. Tired and exhausted, she gladly changed into the clothes brought to her, exposing her body, which turned into a solid hematoma from the spacesuit, and also tasted peasant food - potatoes, kvass and bread. For this, she later received a reprimand from Sergei Korolev himself, because by doing so she violated the purity of the experiment.
For many years after the flight of Valentina Tereshkova, Soviet women did not rise into space - too many difficulties arose in flight due to the "individual characteristics of the female body." But the name of the first Soviet female cosmonaut is forever inscribed in world history!
