First woman travelled to space 54 years ago on this day
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova travelled to space on June 16, 1963, becoming the world's first woman to do so. Tereshkova, who was 26-years-old at that time, completed 48 orbits of the Earth, spending 71 hours in space. Notably, this duration was greater than the time spent in space by all US astronauts combined until 1963.