Tereshkova, Valentina Vladimirovna (1937– )

Soviet cosmonaut, the first woman to fly in space. She was the solo pilot of a three-day flight 16–19 June 1963 in Vostok 6, orbiting the Earth 48 times. Her flight on the last of the Vostok series was her only experience in space.

Tereshkova was born in Maslennikovo in western Russia, the daughter of a tractor driver. She married the cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev, in 1963. Their daughter, Elena, born a year later, was the first child of parents who had both been in space.