SPACE HISTORY: Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova Became First Woman to Fly In Space in 1963
By Space Coast Daily // March 8, 2026
COSMONAUT MADE 48 orbits of the Earth
WATCH: The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, shouted, “Hey, sky, take off your hat; I’m on my way!” Tereshkova’s flight lasted nearly 71 hours. (Soviet Space Program Video)
As Tereshkova’s Vostok 6 spacecraft blasted off, she shouted, “Hey sky, take off your hat, I’m on my way!”
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – On June 16, 1963, 26-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space.
The U.S.S.R recruited Tereshkova, a textile factory worker, because of her experience as an amateur parachutist. One of the most challenging aspects of a Vostok spaceflight was ejection from the capsule before landing (at 20,000 feet above the ground).
The Vostok capsules did not have the rocket engines used on later Soviet spacecraft, which allowed the crew to safely land inside the capsule.
Tereshkova was well-equipped to handle the challenge, with her extensive parachuting experience. In 1962, just a year before her flight, she (and four other female candidates) began intensive training to become cosmonauts.
As Tereshkova’s Vostok 6 spacecraft blasted off, she shouted, “Hey sky, take off your hat, I’m on my way!”
During Tereshkova’s nearly 71-hour flight, she made 48 orbits of the Earth and passed within three miles of Vostok 5, which was launched two days prior and piloted by cosmonaut Valeri Bykovski.
Tereshkova re-entered the atmosphere on June 19, three days after her initial launch, ejected from her capsule, and successfully parachuted back to Earth.
Vostok 6 was Valentina Tereshkova’s first and only flight. She never returned to space, but she went on to become a member of the USSR’s national parliament, the head of the Soviet Women’s Committee, a doctor of Technical Science, and the winner of the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace.
It took nearly 20 years for another woman to enter space.
Related Story:This Month in NASA History: Sally Ride Becomes First American Woman In Space Back In 1983
Fellow cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya launched in August 1982, just before American astronaut Sally Ride in 1983. Although many women have followed in her footsteps, Valentina Tereshkova remains the only woman to conduct a solo space flight. She is one of only four Soviet/Russian women flown in space.
Tereshkova is now 89 years old and lives in a house topped with a seagull weather vane in honor of her Vostok 6 call signal: “Seagull.”
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