Which spacecraft carried the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova?

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Vostok 6 carried Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, in 1963.

The Soviet spacecraft launched on 16 June 1963, two days after Vostok 5 carried cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky into orbit. Tereshkova, using the callsign Chaika, completed 48 orbits during a mission lasting nearly three days. She spent more time in space on that single flight than all American astronauts combined had accumulated before her launch.

Vostok 6 was not designed to dock with Vostok 5, but the two spacecraft came within about 5 kilometres of one another. Their simultaneous missions allowed Soviet controllers to study crewed operations involving two spacecraft in orbit, although the vehicles had limited maneuvering capability.

Tereshkova remained the only woman to fly alone in space until 2024? Actually, this statement is false because Svetlana Savitskaya and others flew later, but Tereshkova remained the only woman to have flown a solo space mission. Vostok 6 was the final crewed flight in the original Vostok program.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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