Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first to go into space. She made her flight alone, without a partner. Tereshkova began her career with parachuting and the position of a bracelet maker at the Yaroslavl tire plant, and ended with the rank of major general. This woman forever etched her name in the history of the USSR and the entire world of astronautics.
Valentina was born on March 6, 1937 in the Yaroslavl region. Mother is a seamstress, father is a tractor driver who died in the Soviet-Finnish war. Since childhood, Valya did well in school, played a musical instrument, and after graduating from school she got a job at the factory where her mother worked.
At the same time, she studied at a light industry technical school, but never became a seamstress. Valentina's true passion was parachuting, which influenced her future destiny.
Valentina Tereshkova - flight into space
On June 16, 1963, the first female astronaut went into space. The Vostok-6 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome; the flight lasted three days.
Tereshkova's condition rapidly deteriorated. She felt unwell, rarely communicated, but still made a space flight of 48 revolutions around the earth.
The woman regularly kept a logbook, but landed the ship on autopilot due to a malfunction of the manual controls. Upon her return, a photo of a woman in a spacesuit appeared on the front pages of newspapers.
The loss of the ship's orientation and the cosmonaut's poor health only upset Academician Korolev and he swore off allowing women into outer space.
Childhood and youth
The biography and personal life of Valentina Tereshkova amazes with the richness of events and achievements. While still a girl, she dreamed of learning to fly. She managed to make her dream come true thanks to her studies in the cosmonaut corps.
The world's first and, to date, only female cosmonaut who decided to go into space alone (without partners or assistants) was Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. Her short biography:
- date of birth - 03/06/1937;
- age - 82 years;
- born in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Russia;
- widow;
- rank - hero, retired major general;
- has a daughter;
- zodiac sign - Pisces.
Valentina Vladimirovna is now known throughout the planet. She was born into an ordinary family. Her parents were Belarusian peasants. Mom worked on a collective farm, and after the war, when she moved to Yaroslavl, at a textile factory. Dad was a tractor driver. Little Valya was left early without her father, who was called up for service and died in a military conflict with the Finns. The girl was only 2 years old. Her younger brother Vladimir was born a short period of time after the death of her father. The mother and children lived in cramped conditions; after the death of her husband, she never married, raising her daughter and son on her own.
Since childhood, Valentina had an ear for music, so she learned to play the dombra. At school I did well in all subjects. She had a strong character, was distinguished by courage and mischief. But it was difficult for my mother to raise her children alone in the post-war period. Without sufficient financial support, the girl decided to leave school in the seventh grade and go to work.
Valentina nevertheless received her education in 1955, graduating from an evening school for working youth. Then she studied in absentia at the Yaroslavl Technical School of Light Industry, after which she entered the Military Engineering Academy named after N. E. Zhukovsky. In 1969, the girl received a diploma and became a pilot - cosmonaut-engineer, and in 1977 - a candidate of technical sciences.
Valentina studied hard and diligently, but she also had to work a lot. As a young girl, she got a job as a cutter at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant in the assembly shop. A year later she went to a textile factory as a roving worker, and there she was secretary of the Komsomol committee for 2 years.
In her youth, Valentina Vladimirovna was fond of parachuting, making 163 jumps. But professionally engaging in this sport was not part of Tereshkova’s plans; she dreamed of becoming a train driver and studied a lot of literature on this topic.
Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna - deputy of the State Duma
After this fateful flight, she never flew into outer space again. She worked at the cosmonaut training center and was listed as a senior researcher. Valentina was engaged in scientific activities and planned to go to Mars and never return from there.
In the USSR, Tereshkova was a member of the CPSU, and in the 2000s she joined the ranks of the United Russia party. The cosmonaut participated in the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi, was involved in charity work, and took an active part in the development of the education system in Yaroslavl and the region.
Monument to Tereshkova
Residents of the Altai Territory erected a bronze monument to the first female cosmonaut, which they called “The Seagull”. The second pedestal was erected in Moscow. The monument depicts a woman floating in the air.
It was in the Altai Territory that the first cosmonaut of the USSR landed, having lost control. Many local residents even managed to get her autograph.
Path to space
In the winter of 1962, Tereshkova was enrolled as a student cosmonaut. After completing general space training and successfully passing exams, she was accepted into the cosmonaut corps. Sergei Korolev, an aircraft designer in the space industry, created an expedition in which a woman would fly into space.
For five months, Tereshkova underwent appropriate training under the women’s flight program and became the main candidate, although there were a lot of applicants. Girls were selected according to several criteria:
- weight category;
- height;
- age.
Out of 800 applicants, 30 were selected, and later - 5. Tereshkova, by all indicators, took last place on the list. Her main competitor was Valentina Ponomareva.
To motivate the contenders, Korolev made a promise that they would all fly into space (each separately and at different times), but in reality this did not happen.
At first it was planned to send two women on different ships at the same time in flight, but later this idea was abandoned. Instead, V. Bykovsky flew into space, setting a record for a single stay outside the Earth, which lasted 5 days. No one has yet been able to overcome this achievement.
During training, while in zero gravity, the girls performed various tasks, for example, they were asked to turn on the radio, eat or write something. It was also necessary to be able to properly dive and eject to Earth before landing.
After completing the training, all candidates showed excellent results, so the choice was difficult. Khrushchev chose together with outstanding cosmonauts. Valentina Tereshkova was the most suitable person because she came from a poor family, but despite this, she was able to achieve everything in life on her own.
She made her first flight in 1963 on the Vostok-6 spacecraft. Her call sign is “Seagull”. The launch was watched by experienced cosmonauts, who later noted the woman’s professionalism. They believed that the launch was carried out at the highest level, which is not achieved by all male astronauts.
The flight lasted about three days , during which the spacecraft orbited the Earth 48 times. In space, Valentina felt very bad, she responded to messages sluggishly, but she was able to hold out and keep a logbook.
It was difficult to land on Earth, as there were bad weather conditions. Valya lost control, but still everything went well in automatic mode. After landing, she no longer wanted to fly, and Korolev objected. During her flight the following were carried out:
- biomedical research;
- monitoring the joint flight of manned spacecraft.
In 1997, Tereshkova retired from the Armed Forces, but continued to be involved in active government activities. She was:
- Chairman of the Women's Committee of the Soviet Union;
- deputy of the Supreme Council;
- member of the presidium;
- Vice-President of the Women's Federation;
- member of the World Peace Council.
In addition, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Her numerous awards and services to her homeland, orders and the title “The Greatest Woman of the 20th Century” are amazing. Valentina Vladimirovna is also an honorary citizen of 18 Russian cities and several foreign ones. In Moscow there is a bust representing the first female cosmonaut.
City streets, sports complexes, schools, planets and even a small crater on the Moon are named after her. In India, paying tribute to Tereshkova, they issued a postage stamp in her honor.
Personal life, family
Marital status: widow. Valentina was officially married twice and raised her daughter Elena from her first marriage.
Tereshkova's husband - Andriyan Nikolaev
Valentina met her first husband while preparing for a flight into space. Her chosen one was the famous cosmonaut Adrian Nikolaev. They had a lot in common. After meeting, the lovers soon got married. In 1963, Nikita Khrushchev himself attended their wedding. A year later, Valentina gave birth to a daughter.
The husband turned out to be a tyrant and despot. People in her immediate circle knew this well, so no one was surprised when Valentina filed for divorce in 1982. My daughter was already 18 years old.
Tereshkova's second husband - Yuli Shaposhnikov
The second chosen one of the female cosmonaut was Major General of the Medical Service Yuli Shaposhnikov. They got married in 1985 and did not have children together.
In 1999, the husband died suddenly. The astronaut never married again.
From textile factory to parachuting
Valentina Tereshkova was born in the small village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo in western Russia on March 6, 1937. She was one of three children of Elena Tereshkova and Vladimir Tereshkov who died in World War II when Valentina was only two years old. Her mother Elena raised three children alone after her husband was killed and worked hard as a textile worker.
When Valentina turned 18, she got a job at the same textile mill where her mother worked, but soon after that she decided to take up amateur parachuting. It didn't take long for her to begin to expand her horizons and develop a passion for flight. As fate would have it, Valentina applied to train as an astronaut under the supervision of Yuri Gagarin in 1961, when the Soviet Union was about to begin training women for space. This obviously had nothing to do with the fact that the Soviet Union was feminist-oriented, but rather with competition with the United States, where each of them wanted to be first in everything possible related to space exploration.
Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin
The astronaut determined Valentina's future fate. Having fallen in love with him in a newspaper photo, the woman decided to become great too. They met while studying. It was Gagarin who insisted on her candidacy for space flight. He also supported her morally while moving around the Earth.
There was no office romance between the astronauts. Yuri Gagarin was married and raised two daughters. So their relationship was limited to friendly communication.
Interesting facts about astronautics
- Sergei Korolev promised all five girls who fought for the right to be the first to conquer space that, no matter who wins, sooner or later everyone will go on a space flight, but he did not keep his word.
- The first thought was to send two girls, one each to the ship, but this plan was rejected in 1963, and Valery Bykovsky, who accompanied our heroine, flew into space. He spent about five days in open space, a record for a single space trip.
- The photographs that were presented to the public were not taken on the day when Tereshkova landed, but a day later; these shots became staged, since Tereshkova was immediately hospitalized due to poor health.
- In total, Valentina Tereshkova covered a distance of two million kilometers. In three days, the spacecraft made 48 orbits around the Earth.
- Tereshkova could have landed in the lake, because during the flight to Earth it was difficult to control the parachute at an altitude of 4 kilometers.
- The call sign “Chaika” was invented by Gagarin himself.
- After the legendary flight, there was a plan to create a special squad of women astronauts, but this was not destined to come true. In 1966, Korolev died, in 1968, Gagarin died, and then three more cosmonauts died: Patsaev, Volkov and Dobrovolsky. The female crew was eventually disbanded.
- For Tereshkova, Gagarin's death was a huge blow. She tragically suffered such difficult events. Also, Tereshkova was prohibited from flying even on airplanes, since the loss of the first person in space was great, they wanted to save at least the first female cosmonaut. For Tereshkova, this meant the end of her career.
- At the moment, only three women from Soviet times and the times of modern Russia have been in space, among them: Valentina Tereshkova, Svetlana Savitskaya and Elena Kondakova.
- She categorically does not welcome space tourism, believing that at the moment many aspects remain unexplored and unknown.
- Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova’s favorite planet is Mars, and it is precisely this planet that the astronautics legend dreams of conquering to this day. Tereshkova’s age does not bother her in any way, because at the age of 77 the American was able to conquer cosmic heights.
- In 1969, Tereshkova came under fire during an assassination attempt on L. Brezhnev. On January 22, Valentina Vladimirovna was driving to an official reception in the Kremlin, already on its territory, they started shooting at the car, the attacker turned out to be Soviet Army lieutenant Viktor Ilyin. Later it turned out that an assassination attempt was being prepared on Brezhnev, but the criminal confused him with cosmonaut Georgy Beregov. The astronauts traveling in the car were saved by a quick reaction, Tereshkova remained unharmed.
