June 16, 1963... First female spacefarer on Vostok-6 Tchaika mission ! The 26-year young Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the first female cosmonaut and the very first woman to fly in space. In the 1950, Tereshkova was employed as a textile worker but was a competitive parachutist at her local Aero club. Her skydiving experience was a requirement for female cosmonauts as potential cosmonauts had to have pilot and/or parachutist experience and be under 30 years of age. Tereshokova’s Vostok-6 mission lasted 2 days 22 hours and made 48 orbits around Earth. Note the little white-cream dial Shturmanskie pilot wristwatch strapped over the left forearm of her SK-series “Skafandr Kosmicheskiy” spacesuit. Alexei Leonov is also in the right photo. Tereshkova retired from the Russian Air Force in 1997 having attained the rank of Major-General and is nowadays 83 years old... (Photo: scan MoonwatchUniverse collection)
