Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва; IPA: [vɐlʲɪnʲˈtʲinə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə tʲɪrʲɪʂˈkovə]; born 6 March 1937) is a Russian former cosmonaut. She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than four hundred applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. In order to join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was honorarily inducted into the Soviet Air Force and thus she also became the first civilian to fly in space.

Before her recruitment as a cosmonaut, Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur skydiver. After the dissolution of the first group of female cosmonauts in 1969, she became a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, holding various political offices. She remained politically active following the collapse of the Soviet Union and is still regarded as a hero in post-Soviet Russia.

In 2013, she offered to go on a one-way trip to Mars if the opportunity arose. At the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, she was a carrier of the Olympic flag.

Tereshkova (crater)

Tereshkova is a relatively small lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located along the western perimeter of the Mare Moscoviense, and to the southeast of the crater Feoktistov. It is named for cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

The rim of this crater resembles a rounded hexagon in outline. There is a small, cup-shaped crater near the outer edge of the southern rim. The eastern ramparts of this crater merge with the edge of the Mare Moscoviense. The rim edge is worn, but only tiny craterlets pit the surface of the edge and the crater interior.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Tereshkova.

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