Launch of Vostok 6

Vostok 6 carried Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union into orbit, making her the first woman in space. Tereshkova, a textile factory worker and amateur parachutist, was chosen from a group of women selected for their skills and spent almost three days in orbit, circling the Earth 48 times. Her flight took place while Valery Bykovsky was in orbit aboard Vostok 5, and the two spacecraft came within a few kilometers of each other. She experienced nausea during the flight and her usefulness as a pilot was later debated, but she completed the mission and returned by parachute after ejecting from her capsule, as was usual for Vostok. Another Soviet woman did not fly into space until 1982.

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