Soviet cosmonaut Tereshkova. Artwork of Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 1937) training for her flight into space. She flew solo in the Vostok 6 spacecraft on 16 June 1963, becoming the first woman in space. She spent almost three days in orbit, circling the Earth 48 times. Tereshkova was one of several female parachutists selected for this mission. They were trained separately from the male cosmonauts, and it was 19 years before another woman went into space. After her flight, Tereshkova trained as an engineer, and later became a politician. Her flight made her famous in the USSR and around the world.