In the last century, it was believed that the female body of cosmic overloads could not stand it. One can only guess how much strength and courage it took the first female cosmonauts to conquer the universe.
"Gull"
For the first time, the vastness of the universe submitted to a Soviet woman. It was Valentina Nikolaevna Tereshkova. She made a space flight in 1963. For three days in space, her call sign sounded - "The Seagull." During this time, Tereshkova circled the Earth as many as 48 times.
The female cosmonaut squad was created on the initiative of Sergei Korolev. Applicants were carefully selected. Several flights of female space crews were planned. Unfortunately, plans have changed over time. From Detachment 1, only Valentina Tereshkova visited space.
It was no coincidence that she became an astronaut. Tereshkova was fond of parachuting. She had the first category. On the account of the girl was 163 jumps.
Valentina grew up in a working-class family. She herself worked as a weaver in a factory. When choosing a candidate for the first flight, this factor played a decisive role. After all, she had no special education at that time. Preparation for the flight lasted a whole year. At that time, the astronaut could not control the spacecraft. The flight took place in automatic mode. However, among experts there was an opinion that the female body of space overloads could not stand it. The female pilot will die.
Valentine was preparing for a space trip. Weightless training was especially debilitating. They passed on a MiG-15 airplane. When he made a special aerobatic figure, zero gravity arose for only 40 seconds in the cabin. At this time, Tereshkova was carrying out another task. And so 3-4 times per workout.
Today, one can only guess how much strength and courage it took this fragile girl during the launch of the ship and flight. According to the recollections of colleagues, she acted calmly and clearly. She coped with the task, the trust justified.
First in outer space
The second famous Soviet woman-cosmonaut was Svetlana Savitskaya. She was a military pilot. She was accepted into the cosmonaut squad in 1980. She made her first space flight in October 1982 on Soyuz T-5 and Soyuz T-7 spacecraft.
And in 1984, Savitskaya was the first of the women to go into outer space. She was outside the ship for 3 hours 35 minutes. The country appreciated the courage of Svetlana Savitskaya: she is twice a Hero of the Soviet Union.
