Valentina
Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва; born 6
March 1937) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman to have flown in
space, having been selected from more than four hundred applicants and five
finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. In order to join the Cosmonaut Corps,
Tereshkova was only honourarily inducted into the Soviet Air Force and thus she
also became the first civilian to fly in space. During her three-day mission,
she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's
reaction to spaceflight.