Mondo Knows Facts

Tereshkova flew 48 orbits before any other woman

In June 1963 she spent almost three days in orbit aboard Vostok 6 Valentina Tereshkova launched on 16 June 1963 and circled Earth 48 times over about 71 hours, call sign Seagull. She was a former textile worker and amateur parachutist, picked partly because Vostok crews ejected and landed by parachute. Another 19 years passed before Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman in space. It sits in Mondo's space collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

NASA Science

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Tags: tereshkova, vostok, women

Tereshkova flew 48 orbits before any other woman: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
In June 1963 she spent almost three days in orbit aboard Vostok 6. The figure is taken from NASA Science, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a space fact?
Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.