bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

On 16 June 1963, within hours of Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space, she realised that the scientists and engineers who had worked for years on the project had made two mistakes, one small but enraging, one possibly terminal.
Re-united with her spacecraft, Vostok 6, in an epic exhibition at the Science Museum in London, she recalled the shock of the discovery. She had food, water, and tooth paste, but no toothbrush.
“My toothbrush was nothing compared to the fact that the space craft was programmed to ascend, but not to descend. Now that was a mistake."

WATCH: The first female cosmonaut, archive footage
If ground control had not succeeded in sending and installing a new computer program, instead of returning to Earth - where she parachuted safely out of the craft from nearly seven kilometres up - the fragile craft in which she would orbit Earth 48 times over two days, 22 hours and 50 minutes, would have spun on and on into outer space for ever. As for the toothbrush, “I had tooth paste, and water, and my hands,” she said.
She asked that the engineer who so nearly cost her life not be punished, and was asked in return never to reveal the truth - and never spoke of it for 30 years, she said. “Cosmonauts can keep their word like men and women - particularly women."
She said she was sad so few Russian women have followed her into space, none at all for one 19-year period, but more were now being trained: “I think the attitude to women will change - do you hear me?"

Tereshkova, who became a decorated national hero, and carried the Olympic flag at winter and summer games in Russia, said whenever she sees the craft that took her into space, she strokes its scarred and scorched flanks. Although she has married twice, first to a fellow cosmonaut in a ceremony attended by both Yuri Gagarin and the Soviet premier, Nikita Kruschev, Vostok 6 has a special place in her heart. “My lovely one,” she called it. “My best and most beautiful friend - my best and most beautiful man."
Most of the 150 objects in the exhibition have never left Russia, with many from private collections never seen by the public even in Russia - including state papers and working drawings that had to be de-classified before they could be exported. The items include engineering models and real spacecraft, equipment and uniforms, archive film, official documents, and drawings and writings from the earliest dreams of space travel long before such machines could be built.
The opening was also attended by Sergei Krikalev, who held the record for the most hours in space, 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes over six missions, until Gennady Padalka set a new record of 879 days earlier this month.

In 1989 Krikalev became the last Soviet Union cosmonaut: he was actually in the space station when the world into which he was born in 1958 disintegrated. There were fears that the space programme would collapse with the regime, and he might never have been brought back, but he was not afraid, he said.
“Ground control kept working - our operations in space were more stable than what was happening on Earth.” Tereshkova added: “We never forgot them, we never abandoned them."
Science Museum director Ian Blatchford said it was the most ambitious exhibition in the 100-year history of the museum, taking five years and the work of more than 200 curators, scientists and experts to create: “We’ve never been mad enough to put on anything on this scale.” After 16 visits to Moscow, gallons of Russian tea, “and more vodka than I am prepared to admit to my GP”, his favourite object remains the 1960s samovar modelled as Sputnik. He said he wants a replica for his office.


 


No toothbrush and major spacecraft problem - the first woman in space recalls mission’s teething troubles

Toothpaste but no toothbrush: Valentina Tereshkova on board  the Vostok 6.  

Soviet cosmonaut, Dr Valentina Tereshkova poses with the Vostok 6 capsule in London for the Science Museum's latest exhibition "Cosmonaut".  Photo: AFP

Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. Photo: AFP

Krikalev floats out of the Zarya module in 1998.  It was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. File photo: AP

She kept some details of the mission secret for 30 years.

Heading for space, female cosmonaut encounters glass ceiling

US astronaut Barry Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Yelena Serova at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Photo: AFP

No toothbrush and major spacecraft problem - the first woman in space recalls mission’s teething troubles

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}.css-jfmysa{display:inline;word-break:break-word;}.css-1ankfgb{cursor:pointer;display:inline;word-break:break-word;}WATCH: The first female cosmonaut, archive footage

WATCH: The first female cosmonaut, archive footage