This day in Russian history and the History of the world.

June 16

June 16, 1963: Spaceship "Vostok 6"with Valentina Tereshkova aboard launched into space.

Thus Tereshkova became the first woman to fly into space.

She orbited the earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space.

Tereshkova was the 6th Soviet cosmonaut. Even though there were plans for further flights by women, it took 19 years until the second woman, Svetlana Savitskaya, flew into space.

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