This day in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova blasted off from the Soviet Union to become the first human female to leave the Earth. Valentina had been selected from more than 400 applicants the year before, and was one of a shortlist of five potential spacegirls - she was just 26 years old at the time of her orbital flight.
The idea of a female cosmonaut was the brainchild of Sergei Korolyev, rocket scientist in charge of the Soviet space effort. Among Valentina’s plus-points were that she was a parachutist, from an ordinary family (‘proletarian’ in Communist-speak), a father who had fought bravely in World War 2, and she weighed less than 70 kg (154 lb).
The flight lasted just 70 minutes short of three days, during which time Valentina made Earth observations and carried out many tests on herself, to check the effects of spaceflight and the freefall environment on the female body. Much of the flight was fairly unpleasant, as she felt sick and uncomfortable, but she still completed 48 orbits, far more than US astronauts of the time had completed.
After the flight she was made a Hero of the Soviet Union, and is still revered for her achievements - only last year, at the age of 71, she carried the torch for the Russian Summer Olympics in St Petersburg.
Of course, spacegirls are nothing new for science fiction fans, and many a teenage youth (including me) dreamed of one day meeting an astronette in a tight-fitting spacesuit! So here Starcruzer presents a trio of gorgeous gals, from the golden age of sci-fi. And the suits are not so far fetched either - future designs will almost certainly be body-hugging designs, rather than the bulky outfits used so far.
The spacegirls date from (top to bottom) 1943, 1951, and 1965.
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