Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna

TERESHKOVA

Valentina Vladimirovna

Hero of the Soviet Union, retired Major General

The 6th cosmonaut of our country, the 10th cosmonaut of the World

The world's first woman to make a space flight

Valentina Vladimirovna was born on March 6, 1937 in the village of Maslennikovo, Turaevsky district, Yaroslavl region, in the family of a collective farmer who died in 1940 in the Soviet-Finnish war.

She graduated from the seven-year school in Yaroslavl and began working as a bracelet maker at the Yaroslavl tire factory, and a year later as a roving worker at the Yaroslavl Plant of Technical Fabrics "Krasny Perekop", while studying at the evening school of working youth. After receiving secondary education, she entered the Yaroslavl Correspondence College of Light Industry, which she successfully graduated from in 1960.

Tereshkova's leadership qualities manifested themselves at the combine and therefore she was elected the released secretary of the Komsomol Committee of the enterprise, having worked in this position for two years, at the same time she was engaged in parachuting in the Yaroslavl Aero Club. By the end of 1961, she had completed more than 90 jumps and became a first-class athlete in this sport.

In March 1962, she (and four other girls) were selected for the Air Force cosmonaut squad for the first flight of a woman into space.

On March 12, 1962, she was drafted into the Armed Forces of the USSR, enlisted in the cosmonaut squad and immediately joined the Communist Party. After successful completion of general space training in December 1962, she was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. Following the results of the training, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was selected for the first flight.

She made this legendary flight from June 16 to June 19, 1963 on the Vostok-6 spacecraft. It lasted 2 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes and ended with her ejection from the lander with a parachute landing.

Until now, Tereshkova's flight is the only one in the history of cosmonautics made on a single-person ship, the pilot of which was a female cosmonaut.

Valentina Tereshkova has been awarded the highest awards of many states: USSR, Czechoslovakia, NRB, GDR, POLAND, Nepal, Indonesia, Ghana, VNR, MNR, Afghanistan, Jordan, SAR, DRV, Chile, Yugoslavia, SRR, Peru, Cuba, Ethiopia and others.

V.V. Tereshkova served in the cosmonaut detachment until 1997 and completed her military service upon reaching the age limit with the rank of major General.

Since the flight and still V.V. Tereshkova has been actively working for the benefit of her native country. For 23 years she was a deputy and a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and later a People's Deputy of the USSR, for 18 years a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, for 5 years chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies with Foreign Countries. She worked as a vice-president of the International Democratic Federation of Women, as well as in many other public organizations. Since 2011, she has been actively working in the State Duma of Russia from the United Russia party.

For her legislative activity, V.V. Tereshkova was awarded the Russian Order of Merit for the Fatherland of all degrees, the Orders of Alexander Nevsky, Friendship and Honor, and is a laureate of the Russian Government Prize.