Valentina Tereshkova

oviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space. On 16 June 1963 she launched aboard Vostok 6 and in under three days orbited the Earth forty-eight times. She remains the only woman ever to have flown a solo space mission.

Before being selected for the cosmonaut corps she worked in a textile factory and was an amateur parachutist — that jumping experience proved decisive, because Vostok cosmonauts ejected during their return. After her flight she became a symbol of the Soviet program and a prominent politician.