The First Woman in Space: Valentina Tereshkova

In 1963, former textile factory worker and amateur skydiver Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova made history when she became the first woman, and indeed the first civilian, ever to travel to space. At the time, the mission was considered a novel, if not entirely incredulous idea; it had been calculated by the USSR’s chief rocket engineer, Sergei Korolev, to create a façade of gender equality in Soviet Russia – a media-friendly move of stratospheric proportions. In spite of…