Valentina Tershkova: Breaking Barriers in Space

Katerina Anikeev

Division: Senior

Historical paper

Word count: 2221

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Introduction

On June 16th, 1963, the Soviet Union launched Vostok 6 into space (Valentina

Tereshkova: First woman in space). What was so special and monumental about this day? After

all, the first man in space was Yuri Gagarin, who had gone up and orbited the Earth two years

before. But this mission was just as crucial, for the cosmonaut on that mission was Valentina

Tereshkova, the first woman in space. Before her, people had doubted that a woman would be

able to successfully execute an operation in space, but she came back, alive and well. Not only

did she break a physical barrier by leaving Earth’s atmosphere, but she also broke a social barrier

that said women could not be cosmonauts. By facing challenges head on, trying new things, and

working hard, Valentina Tereshkova was able to break barriers and set new standards for what

women could do.

Childhood

Valentina was born on a cold night on March sixth, 1937, in the small Soviet town of

Maslennikovo (See Appendix 1), to Vladimir Aksenovich Tereshkov and Yelena Federovna

Tereshkova (Sharpe 3). She had an older sister, Lyuda, and the family lived a simple but nice

life. However, in 1941, her father went off to fight in World War II (Sharpe 3), and never came

back. She barely remembered him because he left when she was so young. All she knew of him

was what she saw in photos and the stories her family told her. To add to the pressure on the

family, about three months after Vladimir Aksenovich died, Yelena Federovna gave birth to her

third child, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

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The war also came close to the village of Maslennikovo, when the Germans bombed

Yaroslav, a nearby city. Valentina was, of course, scared for herself, but also for her

grandmother, who lived much closer to the city then she did. She also had to help her sister take

care of her brother while their mother worked. Despite the hardships that the Tereshkova family

had faced, Valentina liked to play, just like any other child. Valentina and her older sister,

Lyuda, were tomboys, always playing games like “War” where they would run around and jump

off trees (Sharpe 7). The two of them would always come home with scraped knees, but despite

that, they were happy. This is where Valentina got a taste of adventure - which she enjoyed.

However, at this point, being a cosmonaut wasn’t something Valentina was thinking about at all:

She wanted to be a locomotive engineer (Sharpe 11).

When Valentina was eight, after the end of World War II, her family moved to Yaroslav

(Sharpe 9). There, she started school, and learned more about life outside a small village. Even

as she grew older, she still liked to play adventurous games and was always up for a challenge.

Her age notwithstanding, she was always eager to break boundaries in new places. She was

constantly ready to prove people wrong when they said she couldn’t do something. Valentina’s

older sister and all the other women around her were just as smart and strong as the young boys

and men. Seeing that could definitely have helped Valentina realize that women could do

everything men could.

Early Life

Valentina wanted to be a locomotive engineer, and go to college in Leningrad. However,

after finishing highschool, her mom insisted that she work at a tire factory. So, she had to settle

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for night school in Yaraslav (Valentina Tereshkova Biography). After starting the night school

and her new job, she began to wonder if she would end up working at the tire factory forever,

without the opportunity for adventure or without ever working as a locomotive engineer.

Because of that need for adventure, Valentina joined a local parachuting club in 1959,

and in May of that year, she made her first jump (Sharpe 35). This was the perfect thing to

satisfy her need for adventure, and she got very invested in parachuting. That led to her jumping

over a 100 times. While her dedication to parachuting grew, her interest in other aerospace

related activities increased as well. Most notably, she started to pay more attention to the Space

Race (Sharpe 37).

After the news of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, Valentina’s interest in space shot

up even higher (Sharpe 39). Yuri Gagarin was also becoming somewhat of a national hero. It

was very impressive that the world had evolved enough to have a human fly to space.

After Gagarin’s space flight, he published a book, called “The Road to the Stars” and

Valentina managed to get her hands on a copy. She was extremely intrigued by the several

chapters in the book that Gagarin used to talk about the importance of parachuting in his

cosmonaut training, due to the fact that the Russian spacecraft was designed to be parachuted out

of, upon re-entry. This made Valentina consider if she could actually do something with

parachuting as her career. It also caused her to wonder if it would be possible for there to be a

female cosmonaut. She was sure that women were capable of doing everything needed for space

flight. However, the question then became: Would the government allow it? “If women can be

railroad workers in Russia, why can’t they fly in space?,” she asked herself (International Space

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Hall of Fame). Valentina decided she wanted to be a cosmonaut, so she wrote to the Soviet

government in Moscow (Sharpe 44).

First Steps to Space

However, after sending this letter, Valentina focused on other things. She worked hard to

achieve awards in parachuting, and even became an instructor. One day, an important group of

members of the communist party from Moscow came to visit her parachuting club. As they

talked to the club, one of them pulled Valentina aside, to talk to her alone. That was how

Valentina Tereshkova found out she was going to be a cosmonaut. Of course, the government

didn’t want the world to know that they were training a female cosmonaut; if Valentina wasn’t

up to par, they would have to scratch the whole project. So, a cover story was created, and she

was sent to a secret examination and training program (Sharpe 45).

She spent the next year in a place called Zvyozdny Gorod, or “Star Town”. This was the

training center for all the cosmonauts in the Soviet Union. There, she met Yuri Gagarin and

Gherman Titov. Both men were very kind to her, and helped her through her time at Star Town.

She also met both of their wives, who happened to share her name, Valentina. While she trained,

Valentina met the other female cosmonaut candidates, as well as the male ones, which included

Andrian Nikolayev and Valery Bykovsky (Sharpe 70). Star Town symbolized the first steps

Valentina needed to take to reach space. The fact that women were even training at Star Town

was already one barrier broken.

The Flight

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After long and hard training, it was announced that Valetina would be the pilot of Vostok

6, which was a dual flight with Vostok 5 (Sharpe 93). Valentina did everything to make sure she

was prepared. She talked to her friends who had already traveled to space, and received

reassurance from everyone, especially Andrian. Quicker than Valentina expected it to, launch

day arrived. June 16th, 1963, was a lovely day, the skies clear and the wind minimal (Sharpe

98). Valentina got into the space craft, and tested out the radio (See Appendix 2). Then, it was

time for the countdown. In no time at all, the rocket began ascending, and Gagarin excitedly

yelled to let everyone one know that the rocket was in the air (Sharpe 109).

When the rocket was finally in orbit, Valentina made contact with the control center back

on Earth. “It is I, Sea Gull” she said, making sure to use her radio name. “Everything is fine. I

see the horizon…. How beautiful the Earth is!” (Sharpe).

However, there was a problem that Valentina talked about in an interview with Enjoy

Space. The spacecraft had a flaw that would have not let her return to earth if not addressed

immediately. So, she quickly notified headquarters, and they changed the course a little to make

her come back to earth (EnjoySpace). This issue was not mentioned until years later, because the

Russians didn’t want the USA to know that something had gone wrong. Despite that, the

spacecraft remained in orbit for almost three days. Vostok 6 orbited the Earth 48 times, and the

female cosmonaut aboard it performed phenomenally (See Appendix 3), (International Space

Hall of Fame).

Then just as quickly as she had left, Valentina returned to Earth. Her landing was

executed very well, due to all her parachute training. As of June 19th, 1963, Valentina was the

first and only woman in space (International Space Hall of Fame).

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After Space

Valentina experienced international fame after her flight. She gave speeches and

appeared all over the world. But the best thing about being back on Earth for her was her family,

which was soon going to expand. On November fourth, 1963, she married Andrian Nikolayev.

But even as she settled down, she always thought about going back to space. Valentina famously

said "Anyone who has spent any time in space will love it for the rest of their lives. I achieved

my childhood dream of the sky" (International Space Hall of Fame). Even after her daughter was

born in 1964, Valentina dreamed of space.

However, even though she continued working in the space program, Valentina never

went to space again. "They forbade me from flying, despite all my protests and arguments. After

being once in space, I was keen to go back there. But it didn't happen"( International Space Hall

of Fame). In an interview with BBC, she told them that she and the other female candidates for

space had written to the government on multiple occasions, asking for more female space flights,

but they denied their requests. "On Earth, men and women are taking the same risks. Why

shouldn't we be taking the same risks in space?" Valentina told BBC (Valentina Tereshkova:

USSR was 'worried' about women in space). This was obviously a bit of a step back, but still, a

woman had gone to space. Valentina had done something that couldn’t be undone.

Most people speculate that the flight was almost a form of propaganda, to show how

progressive and strong the women of the Soviet Union were compared to the women of the west.

In fact, it took nineteen years for the Soviets to get another woman in space (Valentina

Tereshkova and Sally Ride - Women Space Pioneers). Despite that, Valentina still continued her

work for the government, even being elected president of the Soviet’s Women's Committee,

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which had an astonishing 40 million members (Sharpe 174). ”It doesn't matter what country or

what political system you are from. Space brings you together,” she said, to connect her political

work to her former job as a cosmonaut (Brainy Quotes).

Later Life

Valentina Tereshkova later divorced Andrian in 1982 and married Yuli Shaposhnikov, a

surgeon. She also went on to run for multiple positions in the Russian government after the

collapse of the Soviet Union, adding being Chairperson of the Russian Association of

International Cooperation and Head of International Cultural and Friendship Union to her

repertoire (Valentina Tereshkova: First woman in Space). She advocated for equal rights and

space exploration in all her positions of power. She wanted others like her to be able to fly in

space. “A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further

without the active participation of women” (Brainy Quotes).

To this day, Valentina Tereshkova holds the record for the youngest woman in space, and

is the only woman to have completed a solo mission. Valentina is involved in politics (Appendix

4) and continues to show an interest in space, even at age 82. Just as importantly, her space flight

paved the way for all the female astronauts to come. She showed the world that a woman could

go to space, and could successfully finish a space mission. She broke a barrier some people

thought might never be broken. But her determination to succeed in what she wanted to do led

her to success. This determination was built upon the need to show the world that she could pass

all the training. Then she did go to space. Valentina always had opportunities to prove herself,

which made her push herself to even greater heights.

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Conclusion

Valentina Tereshkova is an extremely successful woman who was brave enough to be the

first female in space. She proved that women were just as qualified for one of the hardest jobs in

the world. Her hard work studying, parachuting, and training in Star Town led her to be able to

complete the Vostok 6 mission. Even though Valentina only went to space once, her hard work

paid off. She showed women all across the world how much they could accomplish. By breaking

a physical boundary, she broke a social one as well. Through her dedication and perseverance,

Valentina Tereshkova was able to go above and beyond expectations, smashing all the barriers

that were in front of her.

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Appendix

Appendix 1

“The Town in Which Valentina Tereshkova Grew Up.” Wikimap, Directiontab, 2010,

http://wikimapia.org/6837848/Maslennikovo.

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Appendix 2

“Valentina Tereshkova, First Woman in Space.” Valentina Tereshkova, First Woman in Space,

Space.com, 22 Jan. 2018, https://www.space.com/21571-valentina-tereshkova.html.

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Appendix 3

“Vostok 6, on display.” Wikipedia, 6 Feb. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_6.

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Appendix 4

“Valentina Tereshkova, 2018.” Wikipedia , 23 Feb. 2020,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova

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Bibliography

Primary sources

“Valentina Tereshkova Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, 2001,

www.brainyquote.com/quotes/valentina_tereshkova_734059.

This source is a compilation of quotes from Valentina Tereshkova, which make it a primary

source. I found these very insightful, and made sure to double check them with other sources to

make sure they were accurate. The qoutes helped me understand who she was as a person and

also showed me more about her ambitions and ideas.

Dejevsky, Mary. “The First Woman in Space: 'People Shouldn't Waste Money on Wars'.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 Mar. 2017,

www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/mar/29/valentina-teresh

kova-first-woman-in-space-people-waste-money-on-wars

This is a primary source that includes an interview with Valentina Tereshkova. I enjoyed reading

this, and it was interesting to see her opinion on space-related matters in the modern day. The

interview component also made it feel much more real and personal

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Cité de l'espace “Valentina Tereshkova’s secret.” Enjoy Space, Youtube, June 17th,

2013.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klNKJhV52k

This source interviewed Tereshkova directly, and gave insight into something that wasn’t made

public for a long time, which is very interesting.

Ghosh, Pallab. “Valentina Tereshkova: USSR Was 'Worried' about Women in Space.” BBC

News, BBC, 17 Sept. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34270395.

Interview with Tereshkova on how women cosmonauts were treated in Russia, and what it was

like to be one of them, which was very insightful and made me understand her as a person better.

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Secondary sources

Sharpe, Mitchell R. "It Is I, Sea Gull;" Valentina Tereshkova, First Woman in Space. Crowell,

1975.

This book was amazing at explaining the life of Valentina Tereshkova. It, in detail, told the story

of a Russian girl who dreamed of space, and where that dream led her. I liked this book because

it focused on Valentina as a cosmonaut, and how her life led her to leaving the atmosphere.

“Valentina Tereshkova.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 24 July 2019,

www.biography.com/astronaut/valentina-tereshkova

This simple and quick biography provided me with some basic facts about Valentina. It gave me

a general idea of who she was and what she did. This source was a good and simple starting

source.

Sharp, Tim. “Valentina Tereshkova: First Woman in Space.” Space.com, Space, 22 Jan. 2018,

www.space.com/21571-valentina-tereshkova.html.

This source was pretty general, but included some details that the other sources did not, which

helped me build a better picture of Valentina as a person. This source also had some of her

quotes in it, which I used as one of my sources to double check that the quotes I found on other

websites were accurate.

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“International Space Hall of Fame :: New Mexico Museum of Space History :: Inductee Profile.”

New Mexico Museum of Space History, International Space Museum,

www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=91

This is a space museum article, that included some information a lot of my other sources did not.

On top of that, it also had quotes I used for cross referencing, and was very helpful for finding

more details about Valentina.