Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova is a member of the Russian State Duma, engineer, and former cosmonaut. She is the first and youngest woman to have flown in spacewith a solo mission on the Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, and remains the only woman to have been on a solo space mission.

Before her selection for the Soviet space program, Tereshkova was a textile factory worker and an amateur skydiver. She joined the Air Force as part of the Cosmonaut Corps and was commissioned as an officer after completing her training. Tereshkova remained in the space program as a cosmonaut instructor after her flight. She later re-qualified for spaceflight but never went to space again. She retired from the Air Force in 1997.

Tereshkova was a prominent member of the Communist Party, holding various political offices. She remained politically active following the collapse of the Soviet Union but lost elections to the national State Duma in 1995 and 2003. She was later in 2008 to her regional parliament. In 2011, she was elected to the national State Duma as a member of the United Russia party and re-elected in 2016.

<last week>     <next week>