The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova,
blazed a trail for the many female space-goers who would follow.
Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut, was selected from more than 400
applicants to launch on the Vostok 6 mission on June 16, 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission and is the last surviving Vostok program cosmonaut. Twenty-six years old at the time of her spaceflight, she remains the youngest woman to have flown in space under the international definition of 100 km altitude, and the youngest woman to fly in Earth orbit.
