Feminine face of space

The twentieth century opened the way mankind into space. April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin on spaceship “Vostok” first orbited the Earth. So the era of manned spaceflight has begun.



Space exploration could not do without the participation of female astronauts, without their spaceflight. And it is not only a tribute to equality and emancipation of women in modern society.

Flights to other planets, and maybe the worlds to which we strive so hard, can not do without women. It's human nature. The first flight of a woman into space took place June 16, 1963.

The first female astronaut who made first spacewalk, was Svetlana Savitskaya. Output held July 25, 1984 on board the orbiting space station “Soyuz Т-7.”.

Elena Kondakova - Made the longest flight among female cosmonauts: 169 days, five hours and one minute.

To date, 56 women of our planet conquered outer space, overcome all difficulties and performing on par with male complicated operation in space.

Nowadays, hardly anyone will be surprised flights into space, but the queen of courage universe never cease to fascinate.

Selection of women in the first group: At the beginning of 1962 began searching for contestants on the following criteria: parachutist under the age of 30 years old, growing up to 170 cm and weighing 70 kg. Of the hundreds of candidates were chosen five.

March 12, 1962 order of the Commander Air Force in the cosmonaut training center for cosmonauts were enrolled Tatiana Kuznetsova, Irina Bayanovna-Solovyova and Valentina Tereshkova. And order of the Commander of the Air Force April 3, 1962 were enrolled as Janna D. Yerkina and Valentina Ponamareva.

Female astronauts were set workouts, during which test the body's resistance to space flight factors.

Training included a heat chamber isolation chamber and the refinement of action of weightlessness on the MiG-15, parachute training.

The first American female astronaut (flight on the Challenger STS-7 space shuttle mission from June 18-24, 1983. The mission duration totaled six days, two hours and 25 minutes).

The first female pilot, a commander of the space shuttle space vehicle.Her first spaceflight was from February 3 – 11, 1995, as the pilot of the Discovery STS-63 shuttle mission.Her second flight was from May 15 – 24, 1997, as the pilot of the Atlantis STS-84 shuttle mission.

The first female astronaut from Great Britain.She made her spaceflight from May 18 to May 26, 1991, together with the crew of the ninth main mission to the Mir orbital station.

The first female astronaut from Canada.She was born on December 4, 1945 in Sault Sainte Marie in Ontario Province, Canada.In 1974, she was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in the sphere of neurobiology from the University of Toronto.In 1977, she received a Doctor of Medicine degree in the sphere of neurology from McMaster University in Hamilton.In 1981, she became a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as a specialist in the sphere of neurobiology.

Her first spaceflight took place from November 19 to December 5, 1997 in the capacity of a flight specialist on the Columbia STS-87 space shuttle mission.

Made the longest flight among American female astronauts at the Mir space station (188 days, four hours; 22.03.1996 26.09.1996).The first woman to make five flights.She was born on January 14, 1943 in Shanghai, China, but considers Bethany (Oklahoma) to be her hometown.Doctor of Science: Biochemistry.

The first female astronaut from Japan.She was born on May 6, 1952 in Tatebayashi in the Gunma Prefecture, Japan. On June 20, 1985, she was selected as one of three astronaut candidates in the first intake of the Japanese Space Agency, NASDA.From July 8 - 23, 1994, she made her first spaceflight as a payload specialist as a member of the crew of the Columbia STS-65 space shuttle mission for the SpaceLab laboratory within the IML-2 program (International Microgravity Laboratory).

The first female mission commander of the International Space Station.Her total duration of space flights is record-setting among women, totaling 376 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes.Her first space flight lasted from June 5 to December 7, 2002 in the capacity of an onboard engineer and scientific specialist for the main crew of MKS-5. During the flight, she made a spacewalk.

Made the most space walks among women (seven). Total time spent in outer space: 50 hours and 40 minutes, which is a record-breaking total.Made the longest flight among women to the International Space Station: 194 days, 18 hours and three minutes.

The first female taikonaut from China.Born on October 6, 1978 in Linzhou, Henan Province.In August of 1997, she entered the Air Force Academy in Changchun, graduating in 2001 as one of a female group of pilots (military transport aviation).In March of 2012, she qualified and was included into one of two crews for the Shenzhou-9 spaceship. In June, her crew was officially announced to be the main one.

The first female astronaut from South Korea.Born on April 27, 1978 in Kwangju, South Korea.She studied at the faculty of mechanics and machine engineering at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology at the University of Taejon, where in 2002 she received a master’s degree in the sphere of machine engineering. In February of 2008, she was awarded a doctoral degree in the sphere of biotechnology.In October of 2006, she was selected as one of 30 semifinalists in the South Korean national intake of astronauts for a flight to the International Space Station on a Russian spaceship in the spring of the year 2008.

The first female space tourist.In early February of 2006, she came to Russia and received a clean bill of health, which secured her access to special training.She made a space flight from September 18 - 29, 2006 on the Soyuz TMA-9 spaceship as a crew member of the eleventh space flight to the International Space Station.

The first teacher in space. On July 19, 1985, she was appointed as backup payload specialist to Christa McAuliffe, whose task was to give 15-minute classes to schoolchildren while aboard the Challenger space shuttle about life and the organization of scientific work on the space shuttle and space exploration, as well as to shoot educational video clips. But at the 73rd second, the flight ended in disaster. The “Teacher in Space” program was discontinued.

After the renewal of the “Teacher in Space” program, Barbara was selected to be a member of the crew of space shuttle mission STS-118, the flight of which (to the International Space Station) was planned for November of 2003. The accident that happened to the Columbia space shuttle (on its return flight on February 1, 2003) delayed her flight.From August 8 - 21, 2007, she made a spaceflight as a flight specialist on the Endeavour STS-118 space shuttle mission.