Valentina Tereshkova parachuted out of over 125 aircraft before she jumped out of the Vostok-6. What began as a hobby led to her selection for cosmonaut training and her achievement of becoming the first woman in space. When Tereshkova was selected for the Soviet space program in 1962, she became the first person to be recruited without experience as a test pilot. Her selection was instead based on her parachuting skills.

Assigned to be the pilot of the Vostok 6 mission, she was given the radio name, "Chaika," which is Russian for seagull. Vostok-6 lifted off from Tyuratam Launch Center (Baikonur Cosmodrome) on June 16, 1963. It remained in space for nearly three days and orbited the Earth 48 times, once every 88 minutes. Unlike earlier Soviet space flights, Tereshkova was permitted to operate the controls manually.

The craft reentered the earth's atmosphere on June 19. Tereshkova parachuted to the ground, as was typical of cosmonauts at that time. She landed approximately 380 miles northeast of Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan. It was Tereshkova's only parachute jump from a spacecraft as she ended her career as a cosmonaut after that flight. But in that one flight she became the first woman in space and the first woman in orbit. It was 19 years until another woman, Svetlana Savitskaya, flew into space aboard Soyuz-T 7. Tereshkova later became a member of the Communist party and a representative of the Soviet government.

This voice box recorded the transmissions of  Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, during her groundbreaking flight on Vostok-6 (June 16, 1963 to June 19, 1963).
[Refer to Index Section: Russia: Vostok: Equipment]

The voice recorder is contained within a green-painted aluminum box (8 x 7 x 5 1/8 inches). The interior is divided partially into two compartments. The larger compartment holds a grey metal box still partially surrounded by remnants of yellow foam insulation and connected by wires to 2 circuit board mounted within the smaller compartment. The lid is stenciled with “Approved for launch” in Russian. Accompanied by audio cassettes, a typed manuscript in Russian reproducing Tereshkova’s conversations with Nikita Krushchev, Yuri Gagarin, Sergei Korolev, and others, and a list of codes needed for transcribing and explaining her report.

Mounted to the wall of her Vostok capsuel, Tereshkova’s voice-recorder kept careful note of all the first woman-cosmonaut’s communication with Earth, as well as her spoken thoughts. It is clear from the tape that it was not an easy flight. Tereshkova suffered from illness and disorientation and, consequently, refused to eat. Also documented is the revelation that Korolev ordered her to stop her experiments and return to Earth.