Women of Aviation Week – Valentine Tereshkova in profile
This week marks the 6 th annual Women of Aviation Worldwide Week which aims to foster gender balance in the air and space industry. Here at the IET Aerospace Network we are celebrating by taking a look at some of the inspiring women of the aerospace industry. For the final day of Women of Aviation Week 2016 we are celebrating Valentina Tereshkova (1937 – ongoing). Tereshkova was a Russian cosmonaut who was the first woman to have flown in space. She was selected from more than four-hundred applicants to pilot Vostok 6. Tereshkova was also inducted into the Soviet Air Force. For her role as pilot for Vostok 6, Tereshkova orbited the earth forty-eight times; spending nearly three days in space. In that one mission she clocked more flight time than all of the American astronauts before that…