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    • Julia Morgan
    • Marianne North
    • Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
  • Picture Book Biographies
  • Bulletin of Awesomosity (aka, the blog)
  • About the Library
  • Awesome Women Resources
  • Contact
  • Home
  • What is an Awesome Woman?
  • Activists & Community Builders
    • Oyinkan Abayomi
    • Jane Addams
    • Fatima al-Fihri
    • Jessie Daniel Ames
    • Susan B. Anthony
    • Inessa Armand
    • Ella Baker
    • Josephine Butler
    • Mary Shadd Cary
    • Septima Clark
    • Dorothy Day
    • Durgabai Deshmukh
    • Nawal El Saadawi
    • Lady Bird Johnson
    • Helen Keller
    • Coretta Scott King
    • Anne Carroll Moore
    • Rosa Parks
    • Alice Paul
    • Eleanor Roosevelt
    • Ghenia Avril de Sainte-Croix
    • Sophie Scholl
    • Doria Shafik
    • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
    • Sojourner Truth
    • Harriet Tubman
    • Malala Yousafzai
  • Athletes
    • Ball Sports
      • Althea Gibson
      • Mia Hamm
      • Billie Jean King
      • Lisa Leslie
      • Nancy Lieberman
      • Cheryl Miller
      • Jackie Mitchell
      • Martina Navratilova
      • Annika Sorenstam
      • Toni Stone
      • Pat Summitt
      • Sheryl Swoopes
      • Serena Williams
      • Venus Williams
      • Lynette Woodard
    • Body Sports
      • Nicola Adams
      • Laila Ali
      • Simone Biles
      • Bonnie Blair
      • Alice Coachman
      • Nadia Comaneci
      • Dominique Dawes
      • Keiko Fukuda
      • Tanni Grey-Thompson
      • Sonja Henie
      • Florence Griffith Joyner
      • Jackie Joyner-Kersee
      • Ibtihaj Muhammad
      • Annie Smith Peck
      • Wilma Rudolph
      • Junko Tabei
      • Lindsey Vonn
      • Kristi Yamaguchi
      • "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
    • Water Sports
      • Anita DeFrantz
      • Gertrude Ederle
      • Katie Ledecky
      • Ellen MacArthur
      • Dara Torres
  • Authors
    • Ama Ata Aidoo
    • Anna Akhmatova
    • Louisa May Alcott
    • Isabel Allende
    • Maya Angelou
    • Jane Austen
    • Mary Ritter Beard
    • Hildegard von Bingen
    • Nellie Bly
    • Gwendolyn Brooks
    • Octavia Butler
    • Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
    • Tsitsi Dangarembga
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Marjory Stoneman Douglas
    • Lorraine Hansberry
    • Toni Morrison
    • Sappho
    • Harriet Beecher Stowe
    • Ida B. Wells
  • Business & Finance
    • Mary Kay Ash
    • Olive Ann Beech
    • Polly Bemis
    • Marguerite Boucicaut
    • Juana Briones
    • Clara Brown
    • Nellie Cashman
    • Coco Chanel
    • Nicole-Barbe Clicquot
    • Ellen Demorest
    • Katharine Graham
    • Hetty Green
    • Isabella Greenway
    • Annie Turnbo Malone
    • Indra Nooyi
    • Charley Parkhurst
    • Eliza Pinckney
    • Lydia Pinkham
    • Mary Ellen Pleasant
    • Muriel Siebert
    • Madam C.J. Walker
    • Maggie Lena Walker
    • Marie Webster
    • Oprah Winfrey
  • Civil Servants, Teachers, & World Leaders
    • Corazon Aquino
    • Queen Yaa Asantewaa
    • Mavis Batey
    • Mary McLeod Bethune
    • Empress Taytu Betul
    • Queen Boudicca
    • Mary Bowser
    • Charlotte Hawkins Brown
    • Gro Harlem Brundtland
    • Nannie Helen Burroughs
    • Empress Catherine II of Russia
    • Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
    • Shirley Chisholm
    • Pharaoh Cleopatra VII
    • Sarah Emma Edmonds
    • Queen Elizabeth I of England
    • Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    • Pharaoh Hatshepsut
    • Noor Inayat Khan
    • Belva Lockwood
    • Patsy Mink
    • Sandra Day O'Connor
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Trung Sisters
  • Computer Science & Math
    • Maria Agnesi
    • Jean Bartik
    • Kimberly Bryant
    • Annie Easley
    • Sophie Germain
    • Margaret Hamilton
    • Grace Hopper
    • Hypatia
    • Katherine Johnson
    • Sofya Kovalevskaya
    • Ada Lovelace
    • Maryam Mirzakhani
    • Emmy Noether
    • Ruchi Sanghvi
    • Dorothy Vaughan
  • Daredevils, Explorers, & Pilots
    • Ann Bancroft
    • Bessie Coleman
    • Amelia Earhart
    • Amy Johnson
    • Sacagawea
    • Freya Stark
    • Bessie Stringfield
    • Valentina Tereshkova
  • Engineers, Inventors, & Scientists
    • 1900 - present
      • Rachel Carson
      • Eugenie Clark
      • Sylvia Earle
      • Dian Fossey
      • Rosalind Franklin
      • Jane Goodall
      • Ruth Handler
      • Mary Jackson
      • Shirley Ann Jackson
      • Stephanie Kwolek
      • Hedy Lamarr
      • Mary Leakey
      • Wangari Maathai
      • Mary Sherman Morgan
      • Ellen Ochoa
      • Sally Ride
      • Stephanie Schwabe
      • Donna Shirley
      • Kathryn Sullivan
      • Ruth Wakefield
      • Peggy Whitson
      • Wu Chien-Shiung
    • 1800 - 1899
      • Hertha Ayrton
      • Florence Bascom
      • Katharine Burr Blodgett
      • Annie Jump Cannon
      • Martha Coston
      • Marie Curie
      • Lillian Gilbreth
      • Margaret E. Knight
      • Lise Meitner
      • Ynes Mexia
      • Maria Mitchell
    • - 1799
      • Mary Anning
      • Marie d'Arconville
      • Laura Bassi
      • Emilie du Chatelet
      • Catharine Littlefield Greene
      • Maria Sibylla Merian
      • Wang Zhenyi
  • Health & Medicine
    • Virginia Apgar
    • Sara Josephine Baker
    • Alice Ball
    • Clara Barton
    • Patricia Bath
    • Elizabeth Blackwell
    • Louyse Bourgeoise Boursier
    • Rachel Fuller Brown
    • Mamie Phipps Clark
    • Gertrude Belle Elion
    • Marie Equi
    • Elizabeth Hazen
    • Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
    • Karen Horney
    • Mae Jemison
    • Anandibai Joshee
    • Mary Eliza Mahoney
    • Florence Nightingale
    • Ogino Ginko
    • Mary Seacole
    • Jane Cooke Wright
    • Rosalyn Yalow
  • Performance Artists
    • Alicia Alonso
    • Marian Anderson
    • Josephine Baker
    • Lucille Ball
    • Misty Copeland
    • Dorothy Dandridge
    • Ellen DeGeneres
    • Katherine Dunham
    • Ella Fitzgerald
    • Evelyn Glennie
    • Martha Graham
    • Audrey Hepburn
    • Katharine Hepburn
    • Billie Holiday
    • Nichelle Nichols
    • Annie Oakley
    • Dolly Parton
    • Mary Pickford
    • Ma Rainey
    • Rihanna
    • Yma Sumac
    • Maria Tallchief
    • Rosetta Tharpe
    • Raven Wilkinson
  • Visual Artists
    • Etel Adnan
    • Sofonisba Anguissola
    • Mary Blair
    • Margaret Bourke-White
    • Julia Margaret Cameron
    • Judy Chicago
    • Artemisia Gentileschi
    • Alice Guy-Blache
    • Maija Isola
    • Lois Mailou Jones
    • Frida Kahlo
    • Yayoi Kusama
    • Dorothea Lange
    • Edmonia Lewis
    • Julia Morgan
    • Marianne North
    • Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
  • Picture Book Biographies
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Valentina Tereshkova

March 6, 1937 - 
(Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Russia - )

​"Once you are at this faraway distance, you realize the significance of what it is that unites us. Let us work together to overcome our differences."

Valentina Tereshkova in her dress uniform
Photo by RIA Novosti archive, image #612748 / Alexander Mokletsov / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/3.0)] via Wikimedia Commons
  • COSMONAUT
  • FIRST woman in space
  • Organized a parachuting club while working in a textile mill
  • Accepted into the Russian space training program in large part because of her parachuting experience, as cosmonauts were required to eject from their spacecraft upon reentry and parachute the rest of the way down
  • Only went on one mission (1963), but was in space longer than the combined hours of all American astronauts up until that point
  • NASA and most of the Western world dismissed her flight as pure propaganda
  • Tereshkova traveled the world on publicity tours, then attended Zhukovskii Aviation Academy to further her military training​
  • ​Served on many national committees where she argued for greater support for Russian women
  • ​FIRST woman to become a Major General in the Russian air force​
  • ​Led many international organizations over the years, including the Soviet Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the Russian Agency for International Cooperation and Development, and the Interdepartmental Council for Coordination of Activities of Russian Science and Culture Centers Abroad
  • The Tereshkova crater on the far side of the moon is named after her

Not So Awesome

Tereshkova became a full-fledged politician in 2011, consistently backing Vladimir Putin despite his dismal human rights record. In 2020, amid supposed constitutional reforms, she proposed an amendment that would essentially excuse Putin from the existing term limits and enable him to potentially stay in power until 2036 (he first came to power in 1999). As of this writing, the amendment had been passed by the Russian government and approved by the Constitutional Court (the Russian equivalent of the Supreme Court), offering an easy path to becoming law.
Bibliography: Clements, Barbara Evans. "Tereshkova, Valentina." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Vol. 4, Oxford University Press, 2008, 214-215.
Ignotofsky, Rachel. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2016. Print.
Balmforth, Tom. (2020, March 13). First woman in space brought down to earth by anger over bid to prolong Putin rule. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-lawmaker/first-woman-in-space-brought-down-to-earth-by-anger-over-bid-to-prolong-putin-rule-idUSKBN21021H
Higgins, Andrew. (2020, March 16). Russia’s Highest Court Opens Way for Putin to Rule Until 2036. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/world/europe/russia-putin-president-for-life.html

Books by this Awesome Woman

Biographies for Kids and Young Adults

Research

Valentina Tereshkova, The First Lady of Space: In Her Own Words
Valentina Tereshkova: The First Woman in Space

Spread the word!

Valentina Tereshkova postcard
t-shirt featuring image of Valentina Tereshkova
coffee mug featuring image of Valentina Tereshkova

Meet more Awesome Women like this

How many times did NASA reject this woman's astronaut application? Hint: It's probably more than you're thinking.
Why was this woman's space flight historic?
She worked side by side with one of history's most pivotal leaders -- and wasn't afraid to tell him when he was wrong
Picture Books
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  • Home
  • What is an Awesome Woman?
  • Activists & Community Builders
    • Oyinkan Abayomi
    • Jane Addams
    • Fatima al-Fihri
    • Jessie Daniel Ames
    • Susan B. Anthony
    • Inessa Armand
    • Ella Baker
    • Josephine Butler
    • Mary Shadd Cary
    • Septima Clark
    • Dorothy Day
    • Durgabai Deshmukh
    • Nawal El Saadawi
    • Lady Bird Johnson
    • Helen Keller
    • Coretta Scott King
    • Anne Carroll Moore
    • Rosa Parks
    • Alice Paul
    • Eleanor Roosevelt
    • Ghenia Avril de Sainte-Croix
    • Sophie Scholl
    • Doria Shafik
    • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
    • Sojourner Truth
    • Harriet Tubman
    • Malala Yousafzai
  • Athletes
    • Ball Sports
      • Althea Gibson
      • Mia Hamm
      • Billie Jean King
      • Lisa Leslie
      • Nancy Lieberman
      • Cheryl Miller
      • Jackie Mitchell
      • Martina Navratilova
      • Annika Sorenstam
      • Toni Stone
      • Pat Summitt
      • Sheryl Swoopes
      • Serena Williams
      • Venus Williams
      • Lynette Woodard
    • Body Sports
      • Nicola Adams
      • Laila Ali
      • Simone Biles
      • Bonnie Blair
      • Alice Coachman
      • Nadia Comaneci
      • Dominique Dawes
      • Keiko Fukuda
      • Tanni Grey-Thompson
      • Sonja Henie
      • Florence Griffith Joyner
      • Jackie Joyner-Kersee
      • Ibtihaj Muhammad
      • Annie Smith Peck
      • Wilma Rudolph
      • Junko Tabei
      • Lindsey Vonn
      • Kristi Yamaguchi
      • "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
    • Water Sports
      • Anita DeFrantz
      • Gertrude Ederle
      • Katie Ledecky
      • Ellen MacArthur
      • Dara Torres
  • Authors
    • Ama Ata Aidoo
    • Anna Akhmatova
    • Louisa May Alcott
    • Isabel Allende
    • Maya Angelou
    • Jane Austen
    • Mary Ritter Beard
    • Hildegard von Bingen
    • Nellie Bly
    • Gwendolyn Brooks
    • Octavia Butler
    • Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
    • Tsitsi Dangarembga
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Marjory Stoneman Douglas
    • Lorraine Hansberry
    • Toni Morrison
    • Sappho
    • Harriet Beecher Stowe
    • Ida B. Wells
  • Business & Finance
    • Mary Kay Ash
    • Olive Ann Beech
    • Polly Bemis
    • Marguerite Boucicaut
    • Juana Briones
    • Clara Brown
    • Nellie Cashman
    • Coco Chanel
    • Nicole-Barbe Clicquot
    • Ellen Demorest
    • Katharine Graham
    • Hetty Green
    • Isabella Greenway
    • Annie Turnbo Malone
    • Indra Nooyi
    • Charley Parkhurst
    • Eliza Pinckney
    • Lydia Pinkham
    • Mary Ellen Pleasant
    • Muriel Siebert
    • Madam C.J. Walker
    • Maggie Lena Walker
    • Marie Webster
    • Oprah Winfrey
  • Civil Servants, Teachers, & World Leaders
    • Corazon Aquino
    • Queen Yaa Asantewaa
    • Mavis Batey
    • Mary McLeod Bethune
    • Empress Taytu Betul
    • Queen Boudicca
    • Mary Bowser
    • Charlotte Hawkins Brown
    • Gro Harlem Brundtland
    • Nannie Helen Burroughs
    • Empress Catherine II of Russia
    • Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
    • Shirley Chisholm
    • Pharaoh Cleopatra VII
    • Sarah Emma Edmonds
    • Queen Elizabeth I of England
    • Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    • Pharaoh Hatshepsut
    • Noor Inayat Khan
    • Belva Lockwood
    • Patsy Mink
    • Sandra Day O'Connor
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Trung Sisters
  • Computer Science & Math
    • Maria Agnesi
    • Jean Bartik
    • Kimberly Bryant
    • Annie Easley
    • Sophie Germain
    • Margaret Hamilton
    • Grace Hopper
    • Hypatia
    • Katherine Johnson
    • Sofya Kovalevskaya
    • Ada Lovelace
    • Maryam Mirzakhani
    • Emmy Noether
    • Ruchi Sanghvi
    • Dorothy Vaughan
  • Daredevils, Explorers, & Pilots
    • Ann Bancroft
    • Bessie Coleman
    • Amelia Earhart
    • Amy Johnson
    • Sacagawea
    • Freya Stark
    • Bessie Stringfield
    • Valentina Tereshkova
  • Engineers, Inventors, & Scientists
    • 1900 - present
      • Rachel Carson
      • Eugenie Clark
      • Sylvia Earle
      • Dian Fossey
      • Rosalind Franklin
      • Jane Goodall
      • Ruth Handler
      • Mary Jackson
      • Shirley Ann Jackson
      • Stephanie Kwolek
      • Hedy Lamarr
      • Mary Leakey
      • Wangari Maathai
      • Mary Sherman Morgan
      • Ellen Ochoa
      • Sally Ride
      • Stephanie Schwabe
      • Donna Shirley
      • Kathryn Sullivan
      • Ruth Wakefield
      • Peggy Whitson
      • Wu Chien-Shiung
    • 1800 - 1899
      • Hertha Ayrton
      • Florence Bascom
      • Katharine Burr Blodgett
      • Annie Jump Cannon
      • Martha Coston
      • Marie Curie
      • Lillian Gilbreth
      • Margaret E. Knight
      • Lise Meitner
      • Ynes Mexia
      • Maria Mitchell
    • - 1799
      • Mary Anning
      • Marie d'Arconville
      • Laura Bassi
      • Emilie du Chatelet
      • Catharine Littlefield Greene
      • Maria Sibylla Merian
      • Wang Zhenyi
  • Health & Medicine
    • Virginia Apgar
    • Sara Josephine Baker
    • Alice Ball
    • Clara Barton
    • Patricia Bath
    • Elizabeth Blackwell
    • Louyse Bourgeoise Boursier
    • Rachel Fuller Brown
    • Mamie Phipps Clark
    • Gertrude Belle Elion
    • Marie Equi
    • Elizabeth Hazen
    • Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
    • Karen Horney
    • Mae Jemison
    • Anandibai Joshee
    • Mary Eliza Mahoney
    • Florence Nightingale
    • Ogino Ginko
    • Mary Seacole
    • Jane Cooke Wright
    • Rosalyn Yalow
  • Performance Artists
    • Alicia Alonso
    • Marian Anderson
    • Josephine Baker
    • Lucille Ball
    • Misty Copeland
    • Dorothy Dandridge
    • Ellen DeGeneres
    • Katherine Dunham
    • Ella Fitzgerald
    • Evelyn Glennie
    • Martha Graham
    • Audrey Hepburn
    • Katharine Hepburn
    • Billie Holiday
    • Nichelle Nichols
    • Annie Oakley
    • Dolly Parton
    • Mary Pickford
    • Ma Rainey
    • Rihanna
    • Yma Sumac
    • Maria Tallchief
    • Rosetta Tharpe
    • Raven Wilkinson
  • Visual Artists
    • Etel Adnan
    • Sofonisba Anguissola
    • Mary Blair
    • Margaret Bourke-White
    • Julia Margaret Cameron
    • Judy Chicago
    • Artemisia Gentileschi
    • Alice Guy-Blache
    • Maija Isola
    • Lois Mailou Jones
    • Frida Kahlo
    • Yayoi Kusama
    • Dorothea Lange
    • Edmonia Lewis
    • Julia Morgan
    • Marianne North
    • Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
  • Picture Book Biographies
  • Bulletin of Awesomosity (aka, the blog)
  • About the Library
  • Awesome Women Resources
  • Contact