MOSCOW: On June 16, 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was launched into orbit in the Vostok-6 space capsule, scoring another point over the United States during its hard-fought space race with the Soviet Union.

Just over two years after fellow Russian Yury Gagarin became the first human in space, Tereshkova evened the score for womankind while establishing another first for her country.

Across the Atlantic, the US space agency NASA would rely only on male astronauts for the next 20 years. Physician Sally Ride was its first woman in space in 1983.

The Soviet Union generally kept a firm lead on the US in space achievements in the early 1960s. And while Tereshkova’s flight did not represent a great technical leap for the Soviets, it carried immense political significance.

After blasting off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, the 26-year-old woman circled the planet 46 times and landed after 70 hours and 50 minutes. Her flight exceeded the entire time spent in space by all of the concurrent US Mercury programme astronauts.

After her safe return to Earth, Tereshkova was showered with medals and accorded Soviet Hero status. Today she lives in Moscow, where she heads the Russian Foreign Ministry’s centre for international scientific and cultural cooperation. She shuns all contact with the media.

In August 1982 Svetlana Savitskaya launched from Baikonur with two male colleagues on the Soyuz-7 mission, spending seven days in orbit.—dpa