Photo credit: Valentina Tereshkova (detail) / kremlin.ru (CC BY 4.0)
The world's first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova celebrates her 85th anniversary on Sunday, March 6, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports. Until today, she remains the only female who went into orbit alone. She is also the youngest woman to have been in space - at the time of the flight she was 26 years old.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Tereshkova on her birthday. He called her a courageous, strong-willed person with a responsible civic and life position, and her professional path and social life are a vivid example of honest, selfless service to the Fatherland.
The legendary ''Seagull'' (her call sign) made its famous flight on June 16, 1963. She spent almost three days in space, becoming the 10th human there. For many years, the details of this flight were classified. Tereshkova also became the first female general in the Russian army.
Tereshkova devoted many years to the study of space, she was always attracted by Mars. She said that they talked about the possibility of flying to mars with engineer Sergei Korolev. She devoted several years of her life to the study of the planet.
After returning to Earth, Valentina Vladimirovna became the unofficial "female face" of the Soviet Union, a symbol of equality between people. In recent years, she has been a State Duma deputy from the Yaroslavl region and does a lot for her native land. At 85, she is full of strength and energy.
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