On June 16, 1963, 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova, was launched solo aboard the Soviet rocket Vostok 6, becoming the first-ever woman in space. She spent nearly 71 hours total in space, orbiting the Earth 48 times.
As part of her mission, Tereshkova performed tests to collect data on how her body responded to being in a weightless environment, and maintained a detailed flight log. This was later compared to how her male cosmonaut colleagues were affected. She also took pictures of Earth from orbit, which were used to identify aerosol layers in the atmosphere.
Tereshkova’s mission lasted an impressive two days, 23 hours, and 12 minutes.
Photo credit: Roscosmos
