In 1963 Valentina Tereshkova orbited Earth 48 times!

In 1963 Valentina Tereshkova orbited Earth 48 times!
On June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be launched into the space after being selected from more than 400 aspirants. It is said that one of the reasons for her selection was her parachute jumping and skydiving skills.

She made her first flight as a pilot in Vostok 6. The word Chaika was used to call her in the space which, later, was used as the name of an asteroid in the honour of Tereshkova.

After her flight, she graduated as a cosmonaut engineer from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. She earned a doctorate degree in engineering in 1977.

Bio:
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/tereshkova.html

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