Tereshkova, Valentina Vladimirovna

Tereshkova, Valentina Vladimirovna, 1937–, Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first woman to orbit the earth, in Vostok 6 on June 16–19, 1963. She left the Soviet space program soon after and married cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev. She was president of the Committee of Soviet Women (1968–86) and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1971).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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