Valentina Tereshkova, born on March 6, 1937, in the Soviet Union, was the first woman to travel to space. Before her historic achievement, she worked in a textile factory and was an avid parachutist, a skill that played a crucial role in her selection as a cosmonaut, as well as her passion for skydiving and aeronautics, which led her to be recruited into the Soviet space program, despite having no formal aviation background.

On June 16, 1963, Tereshkova piloted the Vostok 6 spacecraft, breaking new ground for female astronauts. She…