Valentina Tereshkova, in full Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, (born March 6, 1937, Maslennikovo, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Soviet cosmonaut, the first woman to travel into space. On June 16, 1963, she was launched in the spacecraft Vostok 6, which completed 48 orbits in 71 hours.

Early Life The second of three children born to Vladimir Tereshkova and Elena Fyodorovna Tereshkova, Valentina Tereshkova was born on March 6, 1937 in Bolshoye Maslennikovo, a village in.