The first female astronaut is not just a separate page in the encyclopedia, not just another stage of the Soviet-American space confrontation, it is not even a well-deserved exclamation of admiration and respect. This is an exhausting struggle. Fighting with oneself, with circumstances and even with nature. The struggle, the result of which was immortality.
The first female astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova, embodied the dream of many generations of earthlings to see our planet from a height beyond the reach of most people. They envied her, admired her, and many even sympathized with them, because they understood that behind these three days of flight there were years of exhausting training and testing.
Naturally, S.P. Korolev became the initiator of sending a woman into space. The space race between the two superpowers after Gagarin’s flight not only did not end, but acquired a new impetus. There was a need for a new tangible proof of the leadership of domestic science and technology. This proof was the first female astronaut.
Preparations for this flight began in 1962, when they began to look for fragile girls under the age of 30 throughout the Union, with a height of not more than one hundred and seventy centimeters with excellent parachute training and an impeccable reputation. Hundreds of applicants responded to win the title of "first woman-cosmonaut", but the commission settled on five candidates, among which V. Tereshkova almost immediately took the leading role.
Preparation for the flight took place in very harsh conditions, which not even all men could handle. In particular, young girls were necessarily taken through a special thermal chamber, the temperature in which was kept at seventy degrees above zero, and also left for ten days in complete solitude. In addition, during a flight on a special plane, potential space explorers were given zero gravity sessions, during which they had to perform special tasks.
The first flight of the female cosmonaut was fraught with many tricky questions that were not even thought about when the men were preparing. Among other things, considerable time was spent on parachute training, so without these skills it would have been impossible to return to Earth alive and well.
The choice fell on V. Tereshkova not only because she passed all the tests with brilliance, while demonstrating a fair amount of endurance, determination and self-confidence. The so-called political aspect was also important: like Gagarin, Valentina Vladimirovna was born and raised in an ordinary working environment, which was of great importance.
The ship, which was the first female astronaut, launched on June 16, 1963, its flight lasted about three days. During this time, V. Tereshkova took many pictures of the Earth’s surface, conducted a number of medical experiments, and kept diary entries. As it turned out later, during her historical 48 turns, she experienced terrible discomfort, but she brilliantly brought the job to an end. Returning to Earth, she immediately turned into a legend.