Ask an Explainer

The first women to fly into space was a Soviet cosmonaut named Valentina Tereshkova. Tereshkova flew on the Vostok 6 in 1963 and stayed in space for nearly three days. During her flight she orbited the Earth 48 times. Before landing, she noticed there had been an error in the navigation software which made the spacecraft move farther from Earth than intended. However, she was still able to land safely and was honored in the U.S.S.R. and internationally for her accomplishment.