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| Tereshkova, Valentina (1937-?), Soviet cosmonaut and the
first woman in space. Tereshkova was a textile worker and amateur
parachutist when recruited into the Soviet cosmonaut training programme in
1961. She orbited the Earth 48 times in her successful Vostok 6 flight on
June 16 to 19, 1963, worked thereafter as a goodwill ambassador, and later
entered politics. Her marriage to another cosmonaut, Andrian Nikolayev, in
1963 aroused interest because their child, born the following year, became
the first offspring of parents who had been exposed to the space
environment. |
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