Russian Women in Space Gallery
The first five female Soviet cosmonauts selected in 1962. From left to right, Valentina Ponomareva, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Irina Solovyeva, Valentina Tereshkova, and Zhanna Yorkina. Image credit: RKK Energiya via NASA
Portrait of Irina B. Solovyeva, Soviet cosmonaut candidate. Solovyeva was selected to join a group of five female cosmonauts to be trained for a solo spaceflight in a Vostok spacecraft. Circa 1962. Image credit: uofa.ru
Portrait of Tatyana D. Kuznetsova, Soviet Cosmonaut Candidate, circa 1970. Image credit: astronaut.ru
Portrait of Zhanna Dmitryevna Yorkina, Soviet Cosmonaut Candidate, circa 1960. Image credit: spacefacts.net
Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, February 1, 1969. Image credit: RIA Novosti archive, image #581339/Lev Ivanov/CC-by-SA 3.0
Pilot Valentina Tereshkova became the first female cosmonaut of the Soviet Union. Major Tereshkova wears her Soviet Air Force uniform in 1969. Image credit: Alexander Mokletsov/RIA Novosti CC BY-SA 3.0
Women cosmonauts, left to right, Valentina Ponomareva, Irina Solovyeva, and Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963. Image credit: NASA/Asif Siddiqi/archive.org
Valentina Tereshkova (left) at parachute school, circa 1960. Image credit: The First Lady of Space
Cosmonaut candidate Valentina Tereshkova undergoing monitoring during training, circa 1962. Image credit: tass.com
Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova eating in a Vostok flight simulator, circa 1963. Image credit: soviet-postcards.com
Cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Valery Bykovsky during preflight activities, June 1, 1963. Image credit: RIA Novosti archive, image #67418 / Alexander Mokletsov / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova wears the SK-1 space suit and a Sturmanskie wristwatch. She became the world's first and only woman to ever complete a solo space flight, June 1963. Image credit: Omegaforums.net/RKA/TASS
On June 16, 1963, Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkovna was launched in the spacecraft Vostok 6, which completed 48 orbits in 71 hours. She became the first woman to fly in space.
The U.S.S.R. pilot cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union in the embassy of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Moscow. September 1, 1963. Image credit: RIA Novosti archive, image #612195/Saikov/CC-by-SA 3.0
Soviet cosmonauts (front row, from left): Vladimir Komarov, Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova, Andriyan Nikolayev, Konstantin Feoktistov, Pavel Belyayev. Back row from left: Aleksei Leonov, Gherman Titov, Valery Bykovsky, Boris Yegorov, and Pavel Popovich. Star City, July 1, 1965. Image credit: RIA Novosti archive, image #888102 / Alexander Mokletsov / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Soviet Chief rocket designer and engineer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev supported the choice of Valentina Tereshkova as a cosmonaut, circa 1953. Image credit: esa.int
Soviet Leader of cosmonaut training General Nikolai Kamanin felt Valentina Tereshkova, Irina Solovyeva, and Tatyana Kuznetsova were the best choices as cosmonaut candidates, circa 1968. Image credit: RIA Novosti
Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya prepares to skydive, circa 1965. Image credit: Museum of Cosmonautics
Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya trains under weightless conditions in the IL-76 test bed, circa 1965. Image credit: Museum of Cosmonautics
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova performs test training on the gymnastic wheel during preflight preparations, circa 1963. Image credit: The First Lady of Space, SpaceHistory101.com
Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya skydives, circa 1965. Image credit: Museum of Cosmonautics
Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, circa 1984. Image credit: Albert Pushkarev/TASS
Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first female to perform an extravehicular activity (EVA) including cutting and welding metal during the Soyuz T-12 mission to the Russian Salyut-7 space station, July 25, 1984. Image credit: NASA
Official portrait of Cosmonaut Yelena V. Kondakova. Kondakova flew aboard the Soyuz TM-17 to the Russian Space Station MIR, where she spent 169 days on orbit. From May 15 - 24, 1997, Kondakova was a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis' STS-84 mission which docked with MIR, 1997. Image credit: NASA
STS-84 crewmembers Edward Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy, and Yelena Kondakova in the Spacehab module aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, May 1997. Image credit: NASA
Expedition 41 crew portrait on the International Space Station. From left: ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, Roscosmos cosmonauts Yelena Serova, Maxim Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev, and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore. The rear astronauts wear the Sokol suits they will wear on their Soyuz spacecraft on their return to Earth November 2014, April 11, 2014. Image credit ESA/NASA
Russian cosmonaut Yelena Serova, Expedition 41 flight engineer, poses for a photo near a hatch in the Russian segment of the International Space Station, September 27, 2014. Image credit: NASA
Official portrait of Soyuz MS-19/65S crew actress Yulia Peresild, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, and director Klim Shipenko, August 26, 2021. Image credit: NASA
SpaceX Crew-5 Official Crew Portrait with Anna Kikina, Josh Cassada, Nicole Mann, and Koichi Wakata, February 7, 2022. Image credit: NASA
SpaceX Crew-5 Mission Specialist Anna Kikina from Roscosmos poses for a portrait in her Crew Dragon flight suit at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, June 27, 2022. Image credit: SpaceX/NASA
Cosmonaut Anna Kikina poses for a portrait before her launch to the International Space Station as part of NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 mission, June 16, 2021. Image credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel