After posting about the first man in space last week, I realized I did not know who the first woman in space was. I know Sally Ride was the first American woman up there, but I was pretty sure we didn’t beat the Russians at this one either. The first woman was Valentina Tereshkova, who was actually skilled at parachuting, not piloting as most cosmonauts are. She took off on June 16, 1963 for three days of orbiting and, of course, parachuted out after re-entry. It was her only spaceflight and Russia didn’t send another woman up for nineteen years.