The selection of candidates for the mission began in early 1962. The first female cosmonaut had to meet certain criteria: a parachute jumper, younger than 30, less than 170 cm (5’ 7”) tall, and less than 70kg (154lbs). Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, born on March 6, 1937, in the Soviet village of Maslennikovo, Yaroslavl Region Parents had migrated from Belarus. Father was a tractor-driver, mother worked at a textile plant Tereshkova became the first woman in space on May 16,1963 Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded on June 22, 1963 First woman in the Russian Army to get a rank of Major-General, 1995 (in retirement since April 1997) State Duma deputy, member of the majority United Russia party Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Got married to the 3rd Soviet cosmonaut Andrian Nikolaev in November 1963 On June 8, 1964, she gave birth to their daughter Elena – the first child in the world whose parents were both cosmonauts Divorced since 1982 Finally, out of several hundred candidates, five were selected, including 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova – a regional champion in skydiving who had 90 jumps under her belt. On March 12, 1962, Tereshkova became a member of the cosmonaut corps and, along with the other four candidates, began months of tough training which included days spent in the complete silence of a soundproof chamber, zero-gravity tests and exhausting exercises in a heat chamber. Tereshkova was last on the list of the candidates, but in the 1960s, political factors mattered a lot, and it was the “proletarian” background, which scored her points. On June 16, 1963, Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She spent almost three days (70 hours 50 minutes) on the Vostok-6 spacecraft, which was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, in present-day Kazakhstan. She orbited the earth 49 times. Another Soviet spacecraft, Vostok-5 piloted by Valery Bykovsky, was in space at the same time. RT reconstructed the timeline of Tereshkova’s historic flight, based on open sources, Tereshkova’s after-mission report and interviews, and the published diaries of Nikolay Kamanin, assistant commander-in-chief of the Air Force for space missions from 1960 to 1971, who supervised cosmonauts’ training. June 15, 1963 19:00 MSK: The pre-launch team and space industry officials meet with the Vostok-6 crew. Everyone brought Tereshkova flowers and wished her a safe flight. After the meeting, the girls changed to casual clothes and together with Sergey Korolyov went on board Vostok-6. At night Tereshkova and Solovyova went to the cosmonauts’ house and started to prepare for the launch. 17:00 MSK: Tereshkova meets the pre-launch team. Moscow decides to keep it secret that Tereshkova is an army officer in the first media report about her mission and it was decided that she must be wearing civilian clothes. In the morning Vostok-6 was placed on the launch pad at Baikonur. The launch of the craft is scheduled for June 16, 12:30 Moscow time. June 14, 1963 17:00 MSK: Vostok-5 was launched, piloted by Valery Bykovsky, code name Yastreb (Hawk). The flight would continue for about five days, with the cosmonaut landing successfully on June 19, after making 82 orbit passes. He would set a record of space flight duration. During the flight, the pilot would manage various systems of the spacecraft, establish radio connection with the Earth and between the ships and, also, conduct scientific research, mainly focused on how a human body changes in space. June 10, 1963 22:30 MSK: The launch of Vostok-5 got cancelled due to a series of strong solar flares. It means that radiation in space may rise to a dangerous level for the pilot. It’s the first time a launch is canceled. June 9, 1963 09:00 MSK: Vostok-5 ship was prepared for the launch. On the very same day, the cosmonauts and the pre-launch team took a motorboat trip along the Syr Darya River and cooked fish soup together. June 8, 1963 17:00 MSK: The State Space Commission meeting. The chairman of the commission suddenly asked a question: ‘Should we mention that Tereshkova is an officer when we first announce her flight?” The majority supported introducing her as the Air Force Officer. It was decided to launch Vostok-6 with a female cosmonaut two days after the launch of Vostok-5 piloted by a male cosmonaut. Under the plan, the man was to spend two days in space alone; then both craft would stay together for three days and land at the same time. The same day, Tereshkova boarded her Vostok-6 and examined the craft and its equipment together with the lead engineer. “Tereshkova makes a very good impression on everyone. She treats people equally; she is full of tact and dignity,” Nikolay Kamanin, the man in charge of cosmonauts training, recalled in his diaries. June 5, 1963 Kamanin held a training session with all cosmonauts, doctors and other specialists to ensure a common understanding of 37 instructions that everyone – both on Earth and in orbit – were obliged to know. The teams also agreed to introduce code words that could be used in open radio talks during the flights. For instance, when a cosmonaut reports that “I am feeling fine, the spacecraft’s equipment is working fine” it means a space mission should continue as normal as there are no concerns about health or equipment. When they say “well” instead of “fine” it would mean that a cosmonaut is not really sure they would be able to complete their mission. The word “satisfactory” in a report would mean that the flight should be terminated. June 4, 1963 The State Space Commission held a meeting on launching the Vostoks spacecraft – their readiness to go into orbit and flight missions. At the gathering, Jr. Lt. Tereshkova was approved to pilot Vostok-6, and Major Bykovsky – Vostok-5. June 3, 1963 09:00 AM: Tereshkova, Solovyova and Ponomaryova start trying on their spacesuits and adjusting harnesses and chairs. Tereshkova’s code name was Chaika, or Seagull in Russian, and there was a picture of the bird embroidered on the shoulder of her heat-protective suit. June 1, 1963 10:00 MSK: Tereshkova, her back-ups Irina Solovyova and Valentina Ponomaryova, and a group of 35 people including the first spaceman Yuri Gagarin arrived at Baikonur space launch facility by Antoshin AN-10 plane. Sergey Korolyov and others met them at the site. Come back again on June 16 to read the full story of the Seagull in the Sky. … Read More
Putin agrees to head All-Russia People’s Front
Putin, who initiated the creation of the Front, has visited the second day of the organization’s congress, which took place in central Moscow on June 11-12. On his arrival, movie director, Stanislav Govorukhin, who led Putin’s presidential campaign during last year’s election, has asked the president “a stupid question” – if he would agree to head the All-Russia People’s Front. Putin accepted the offer, thanking the audience for “their trust and support” and urging the new movement to really reach an all-Russia scale. “It should become a platform where people of different – at first sight, opposing – points of view could get together, discuss the problems and find acceptable means of solving those problems,” he said. According to the president, the All-Russia People’s Front will support civil initiatives and volunteering, business and social programs, promote local self-government and make way for new social initiatives and leaders. “The aim of the People’s Front is to provide every person with a chance to create, to build a great country, a great Russia. We’re ready to work with everybody, who shares those ideas and values,” Putin explained. Parliamentarian for the United Russia party, Olga Timoffeeva, head of the Business Russia non-governmental organization, Aleksandr Galushka, and movie director, Stanislav Govorukhin, will execute the duties of the Front’s co-chairmen during the next five years. The movement’s central staff was also elected at the congress. It’ll consist of 55 people, including such figures as Mosfilm studios head, Karen Shakhnazarov, noted pediatrician and surgeon, Leonid Roshal, first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev. Among the other members of the organization’s executive board are heads of NGOs and non-parliamentary parties, trade union representatives, scientists and World War II veterans. The charter and manifesto of the All-Russia People’s Front was approved on Wednesday and the new social movement has received an official registration. The organizations name was altered as well and, from now on, it’ll be called “People’s Front – for Russia.” The idea to form the All-Russia People’s Front was first voiced in 2011 by then-Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, in order to provide the United Russia with “new ideas, new suggestions and new faces”. He urged the members of the ruling party to attract NGOs and politically uncommitted people to the process of selecting candidates for the parliamentary election. The Front was intended to become a non-partisan structure, without any “leading or ruling force” within its ranks. Later, the concept was upgraded and it was proposed to create a civil movement, which will still keep its non-partisan status. … Read More
Gagarin space drama based on secret Soviet archive hits Russian theaters
The film first premiered in Moscow on April 12 and was screened at the UN’s Vienna International Center, and is now hitting Russian wide screens. According to the film’s crew, ‘Gagarin: The First in Space’ tells the story of the race to be the first to put a human in space – the Cold War confrontation between the two superpowers, the USSR and US. Film producer and co-writer Oleg Kapanets, who has worked in Hollywood since 1992, said that the complicated project took six years of hard work. “A lot of books have been written about Yuri Gagarin, so we took our time rereading numerous documentary accounts and autobiographical materials about him,” he said at a Moscow press conference for the film. “We wanted to pick up some extraordinary moments of his life and piece them together. The challenge was to translate the material into the language of film to appeal to audiences. In the long run we chose the main theme of the film to be the flight itself and the man behind it.” Kapanets also explained how troves of material from secret Russian archives were revealed for the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight: “This is how we’ve discovered several sketches of the rockets and of the capsule that we later recreated in our film in accordance with the released data.” In 1960 fighter pilot Gagarin was shortlisted for the Vostok 1 program built on the success of Sputnik 1. Yuri’s closest rival for selection was German Titov. The promising cosmonauts did their best to impress their space program director Sergey Korolev. The film producer said they had also worked with a number of space experts and turned for advice to the legendary cosmonauts from the first cosmonaut team, such as Aleksey Leonov and Boris Volynovm during the shooting. “We tested facts from books and witness accounts on them,” Kapanets explained. Vadim Michman – the actor playing the second man in space, Titov – said he could not imagine what the Russian cosmonauts felt when they first went into space: “What they did to fly into space, and how they did it… Not everyone can even come to think of it.” After his historic flight, Gagarin became a worldwide celebrity and was never far from the spotlight. He visited several countries and was pictured with film celebrities and stars like Gina Lollobrigida, or political leaders like Fidel Castro and Che Gevara, but never forgot about his childhood friends and family. Those who knew him personally said that even after he had “skyrocketed” into fame, stardom meant nothing to the first man to orbit the earth. Gagarin tragically died in a military training flight on March 27, 1968, at 34 years of age. “A separate movie about Gagarin’s death could be made. There’s yet a lot to discover,” Kapanets said. Kapanets added that the release of ‘Gagarin: The First in Space’ is well-timed to help close a widening generation gap: “If children fail to know who Gagarin is, we’ll lose ourselves as a nation.” On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off in a Vostok rocket, becoming the first human in space and orbiting Earth for 108 minutes. Over 50 years after the legendary voyage, Gagarin’s courage continues to serve as a role model and source of inspiration for space explorers across the world. In 2011, the UN deemed April 12 the International Day of Human Space Flight. For decades, Russia’s space program has been primarily oriented towards manned space flights, which comprise 58 percent of the space budget. Russia must “keep the leader’s experience of the manned flights and catch up in other space exploration programs,” President Vladimir Putin said in April of this year. By 2020, the Russian government plans to allocate up to $52 billion for the national space industry. And by 2030, the turnover of the space industry globally could grow fivefold, reaching $1.5 trillion from its current $300-400 billion. … Read More
Russia to send a woman into space in 2014
Russia will send a female cosmonaut into space for the first time in two decades next year, an official at the space training centre said Wednesday. Yelena Serova, 36 and a professional cosmonaut, “is getting ready for a space flight in the second half of 2014,” said Alexei Temerov, an…
