Tereshkova's Flight

The words

1. Bykovsky

   Valery Bykovsky flew Vostok 5 alongside Tereshkova’s mission. His spacecraft’s lower orbit led controllers to shorten his planned flight to about five days.

   pp. 223–224 · Chertok: Hawk and Seagull in orbit (opens a new tab)

2. Centrifuge

   Tereshkova’s training included centrifuge tests. These machines prepare space travelers for the strong acceleration experienced during launch and return to Earth.

   ESA: Tereshkova’s training and flight (opens a new tab) · ESA: what centrifuge training does (opens a new tab)

3. Chaika

   Russian for seagull.

   Chaika identified Tereshkova in radio communications during Vostok 6. After reaching orbit, she spoke with Bykovsky aboard the other spacecraft.

   ESA: Tereshkova’s training and flight (opens a new tab)

4. First Woman

   On June 16, 1963, the twenty-six-year-old Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Vostok 6 carried her into orbit as part of the paired Soviet mission.

   Did you know?

   The next woman to fly in space was Svetlana Savitskaya, who traveled to the Salyut 7 space station in 1982.

   Siddiqi: Vostok 5 and 6 (opens a new tab) · NASA: the first women in space (opens a new tab)

5. Flight Log

   Tereshkova kept written notes during her nearly three days in orbit. They recorded the flight alongside the photographs she took from Vostok 6.

   NASA: the first women in space (opens a new tab)

6. Flying Club

   A local flying club gave Tereshkova her start in skydiving. She gained parachuting experience before entering the cosmonaut program, while working in a textile factory.

   Did you know?

   Tereshkova made her first parachute jump in May 1959, when she was twenty-two, several years before her spaceflight.

   ESA: Tereshkova’s training and flight (opens a new tab)

7. Hawk

   The English translation of Russian Yastreb.

   Hawk was Bykovsky’s radio name during Vostok 5. Chertok’s mission account uses this name for him and Seagull for Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6.

   p. 223 · Chertok: Hawk and Seagull in orbit (opens a new tab)

8. Horizon

   Tereshkova photographed Earth and its horizon from orbit. ESA reports that these photographs later helped identify aerosol layers in the atmosphere.

   ESA: Tereshkova’s training and flight (opens a new tab)

9. Kamanin

   Nikolai Kamanin was responsible for cosmonaut training and favored Tereshkova for the first woman’s flight. His diary recorded that recommendation before her mission.

   NASA: the first women in space (opens a new tab)

10. Parachutist

    Parachuting mattered on Vostok because the cosmonaut left the capsule before touchdown. Tereshkova returned under her own parachute, separately from the descent capsule.

    p. 372 · Siddiqi: Vostok 5 and 6 (opens a new tab)

11. Solovyova

    Irina Solovyova trained in the same five-woman group as Tereshkova and became her backup. Both women put on spacesuits before traveling to the launch pad.

    ESA: Tereshkova’s training and flight (opens a new tab)

12. Tereshkova

    Valentina Tereshkova entered the Soviet cosmonaut program in a group of five women. She was the only member of that group to fly in space.

    NASA: the first women in space (opens a new tab)

13. Textile Mill

    Before becoming a cosmonaut, Tereshkova worked in a textile factory. Her background combined factory work with parachuting, rather than a career as a military test pilot.

    NASA: the first women in space (opens a new tab)

14. Vostok Five

    Vostok 5 launched with Bykovsky on June 14, 1963, two days before Tereshkova. It was the companion spacecraft with which she established radio contact in orbit.

    ESA: Tereshkova’s training and flight (opens a new tab)

15. Vostok Six

    Vostok 6 was the last crewed flight of the Vostok series. When the paired missions ended, no further Vostok flights had approved plans.

    p. 373 · Siddiqi: Vostok 5 and 6 (opens a new tab)