Article: Tereshkova, Valentina

Tereshkova, Valentina

Russian Cosmonaut and Politician 1937-

The Soviet Union not only launched the first human into space (Yuri Gagarin in 1961) but in June 1963 it also sent the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova. It would be another twenty years before Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Tereshkova joined a club of amateur parachutists in 1961, shortly before interviewing with the Soviet space program. Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev had suggested sending a woman into space before the United States. A lack of female airplane pilots made parachutists attractive candidates for the Soviet space program, and Tereshkova and three other women parachutists and a female ...

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