- Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a Russian female cosmonaut. She was born on 6 March 1937. She grew up in Maslennikovo, Tatayevsky,Yaroslavl, Oblast.
- Tereshkova started school in 1945 but then left in 1953 and continued her education by correspondence courses. She became interested in sky diving and parachuting.
- Her father and mother were emigrants fromBelarusand started a new life inRussiawhere they had their only child, Valentina. Her father was a tractor driver for local farms and her mother worked for a textile company.
- She was selected out of more than 400 applicants and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on 6 June 1963.
- She orbited the earth 3 times during her time in space and she was being tested to see what happens to the female body in space.
