Rising from humble beginnings in central Russia, Valentina Tereshkova landed the job of a lifetime in Soviet Russia, becoming the first woman in space 50 years ago on Sunday.
Tereshkova was selected out of hundreds of applicants to become a cosmonaut aboard Vostok-6, in which she orbited the Earth 48 times over 70 hours in a flight that blasted off June 16, 1963. In a special panel for the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) held June 13, Tereshkova urged more women to take interest in space programs.
"A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women," Tereshkova said.
"More women should actively participate in space flight. There are many well educated women working in the space industry, they are very good candidates."
More than 60 women from Canada, China, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States have taken the trip into space since Tereshkova.
"This milestone heralded the beginning of the contribution by women to human space flight," Mazlan Othman, Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), said to mark 50 years of women in space.
Tuesday, June 18, will mark the 30-year anniversary of the first American women in space, Sally Ride. Other notable women milestones include 1984, when Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to spacewalk, and 2012, when Sunita Williams set the record for longest space flight by a woman with a 192-day trip. American Peggy Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space Station in 2007.
"These are just a few accomplishments," said Othman. "And for every woman that has flown into space there are hundreds serving on the ground in almost every sector of space activities."
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