Putin honours first woman in space for service to Fatherland

Russia has honoured the first woman to voyage successfully into space.

Valentina Tereshkova was hosted at the Kremlin, with President Vladimir Putin praising her as “a role model for us and a symbol of service to the Fatherland”.

He presented Tereshkova with a painting of seagulls over the Volga River, a reference to her call sign “Chaika” (Seagull) during her mission in June 1963.

“I often see my flight in my dreams,” she said in televised remarks.

Ms Tereshkova is still a member of the Russian parliament, serving as a deputy chair of committee for municipal issues. Fellow politicians greeted her at a photo exhibition about her flight in the low- er house, the State Duma. Ms Tereshkova, who turned 80 yesterday, also recalled tense moments of her pioneering mission.

“When the spacecraft reached the orbit, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to return to Earth because the ship was programmed to move to a higher orbit instead of de-orbiting,” she said in remarks broadcast by Channel 1 television. “I reported the situation to the mission control, they told me how to change the parameters and everything went on without trouble.”

Soviet space officials started planning for a space mission by a woman soon after Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly to space on 12 April, 1961, seeing it as a way to cement the nation’s lead in a race for space supremacy against the United States. 0 Valentina Tereshkova went into orbit in June 1963