Valentina Vladimirovna
Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is the world’s first female cosmonaut and Russia’s first female general. She underwent space training from March to November 1962. She was transferred as instructor to the First Cosmonaut Squad in December of the same year. Valentina Tereshkova was awarded the first military rank of second lieutenant in 1962. She made her flight into space as the only crew member, commander of the Vostok-6 spacecraft on June 16-19, 1963. She had a space call sign «Chaika». At the same time, the Vostok-5 spacecraft, piloted by Valery Bykovsky, was in orbit. The total duration of the flight was 2 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes. During the flight, Valentina Tereshkova kept a logbook and took photos of the horizon, which were used to detect aerosol layers in the atmosphere later. She entered the history of mankind as the first female cosmonaut and the only woman who made a single space flight. After the flight, Valentina Tereshkova continued to engage in space training until the disbandment of the women ‘s group in 1969. She headed the Committee of Soviet Women from 1968 to 1987. She was Vice-President of the International Democratic Federation of Women in 1969. She served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries in 1987-1992. Then she headed the Russian Association for International Cooperation (1992), was the first deputy chairman of the Russian Agency for International Cooperation and Development (1992-1994). In 1995, she received the rank of Major General of aviation, became the first female general in the country. On December 4, 2011, she was elected a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation from the United Russia party. In March 2012, she took the post of Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs. Member of the United Russia faction. She was a member of the inter-factional deputy group for the protection of Christian values. In 1967 a memorial bust was erected in honor of V.V. Tereshkova. The chest bust on a granite pedestal is made with portrait similarity and is part of the sculptural ensemble of the Cosmonauts Alley, which presents similar busts of space explorers. Commemorative inscription on the pedestal is «Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR Valentina Tereshkova».
Sculptor: G. P. Postnikov
Architects: A. N. Kolchin, M. O. Barsch
Materials: bronze, granite
Year of installation: 1967
Address: Moscow, Cosmopark
