The first woman to orbit the Earth was Junior Lt Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (b. 6 Mar 1937, USSR). She was launched in Vostok 6 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 9:30a.m. GMT on 16 Jun 1963. Vostok 6 landed at 8:20a.m. on 19 June, after a flight of 2days 22hr 50min and 48 orbits (1,971,000km 1,225,000miles).

It passed momentarily to within 5km 3 miles of Vostok 5. Like Gagarin, Tereshkova ejected, after 2days 22hr 40min and landed six minutes later.



Tereshkova was born to a peasant family in the Yaroslavl’ region of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Yaroslavl’ is now part of Russia.