Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go into space. It was her first and last trip into space. She later toured the world to promote Soviet science and became involved in Soviet politics. She lived almost three days in space and orbited Earth 48 times in her space capsule, Vostok 6 in 1963. The full name of Valentina Tereshkova was Valentina Vladimirovna "Valya" Tereshkova. She was born on March 6, 1937, in Maslennikovo, a village near the Volga River about 170 miles northeast of Moscow. Valya’s parents worked on a collective farm and her father was killed during World War II.....Read more