Valentina #Tereshkova was born 89 years ago today, on 6 March 1937, in Maslennikovo in Russia. She worked in a car tyre factory and later as a tailor and ironer. But that was not enough for her: in addition to her work, she continued her education and received her technician's diploma in 1960. After several applications, she began training to become a #cosmonaut in 1962.
Just one year later, the time had come: on board #Vostok 6, Tereshkova took off on 16 June 1963 on a journey into space that lasted almost three days. It was the first space flight by a woman. She orbited the earth 48 times with her spaceship.
For her achievement, the cosmonaut was awarded the Order of Lenin and the honorary title "Heroine of the Soviet Union".Although her flight was a complete success for the Soviet space programme, Tereshkova was never used again.For almost 20 years, she remained the only woman with space experience.It was not until 1982 that Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to fly into space.
Brave Cosmonaut Belka after her trip to space, the Soviet Union, 1960
On 19 February 2014: #ValeryKubasov, Soviet-Russian #cosmonaut (#Soyuz6, 19, 36/35) who performed the 1st welding experiments in #space, died at 79.
#RIP 🕯️
As the saying about Russian history goes, "And then it got worse."
Solar Storm Turbocharges Aurora Lights in Dazzling Photos From Space and Earth

Magical.

PetaPixel

the last soviet(s)

Context (Source):

On August 18, 1991, conspirators within the Soviet government attempted to overthrow President Mikhail Gorbachev, but their coup failed, and ultimately triggered the total collapse of the USSR at the end of that year. As these dramatic events unfolded, one man watched with horror from over 200 miles above the Earth’s surface. Sergei Krikalev, a Soviet cosmonaut, had been sent as a flight engineer to the Mir space station for a routine five-month mission. He departed Earth on May 18, 1991, exactly three months before his home country began to shatter. The collapse of the Soviet Union left Krikalev a man without a country, and more importantly, without anybody to bring him home.

Over months of radio exchanges, authorities repeatedly told Krikalev there was simply no money to fund his return. An economic crisis had broken out, and the worth of the ruble had plummeted. To make matters worse, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, from where Krikalev’s mission was launched, was now located in a brand new country called Kazakhstan. For the time being, he would have to wait.

Krikalev ultimately spent 311 days in space, double the amount of time his mission was originally supposed to last. During that time, his home country fell into disarray, dissolved, and formed new nations, all of which Krikalev could only learn of from news and radio contact. By overstaying his planned mission length twofold, Krikalev risked severe health complications associated with space travel, but managed to make a full recovery and fly further missions in the future. When Krikalev arrived back on Earth, he had become 0.02 seconds younger than everyone else born at the time as him.

The Psychological Impact of Space Travel

As humanity looks beyond our planet, scientists investigate the psychological impact of space travel.

Psychology Today
La Russie remplace un cosmonaute suite à une violation présumée de la sécurité à bord de l’ISS — tensions et protocoles renforcés. https://fr.euronews.com/2025/12/04/la-russie-remplace-un-cosmonaute-apres-une-violation-presumee-de-la-securite-dans-les-inst #Space #ISS #Cosmonaut #Science #DéfenseSpatiale
ISS : la Russie remplace un cosmonaute-"espion" sur SpaceX

Le cosmonaute Oleg Artemyev a été écarté de la mission Crew-12 après avoir photographié du matériel confidentiel de SpaceX et sera remplacé par Andreï Fedyaev.

euronews