Photokhronika TASS

This rare Soviet-era photograph captures Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova during final training for Vostok 6, shortly before she would become the first woman in human history to travel into outer space.

Wearing a helmet marked CCCP, Tereshkova stands in open terrain, composed and smiling—an extraordinary human moment preceding one of the most consequential achievements of the 20th century. Selected from more than 400 candidates, she was chosen not only for her physical endurance and parachuting expertise, but as a symbol of technological progress during the height of the Cold War.

On June 16, 1963, Tereshkova launched aboard Vostok 6, orbiting the Earth 48 times over nearly three days. Her mission alone exceeded the total spaceflight time of all American astronauts combined at that moment. To this day, she remains the only woman ever to have flown a solo space mission.

The reverse bears official Photokhronika TASS press stamp (Moscow, USSR), confirming the image’s origin within the Soviet state documentation system—where photography functioned simultaneously as historical record and political instrument. It is also bears CINE MUNDI ARCHIV stamp.