Valentina Tereshkova is the first female astronaut in space. At the age of 26, Valentina piloted Vostok 6 on 16^th June, 1963. Before the flight to the space, she was an amateur parachutist while working in a textile factory.

After the flight, Valentina married to one of the Vostok 6 crew – Andrian Nikolayev in 1963 and gave birth to a daughter the following year. However, the couple divorced in 1982, and Valentina married again to Yuli Shaposhnikov who later died in 1999.

Sally Ride is the first American woman to go to space. At the age of 32, Sally went to space on June 18, 1983.