Women in space

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Wednesday September 13, 2006

Moscow- On September 18, Iranian-born US entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari is due to become the first private female space traveller. There follows a list of key accomplishments of women in space. June 16, 1963 - Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. During nearly 71 hours aboard the Vostok 6 space capsule she circles the earth 48 times. August 19, 1982 - Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the second women in space. In July 1984, Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a spacewalk, logging almost four hours outside the Salyut 7 space station.

June 18, 1983 - Sally Ride becomes America's first woman astronaut and the third woman in space. Ride flew on two shuttle missions and was in training for a third when the Challenger exploded in 1986, temporarily halting the shuttle programme.

October 5, 1984 - Kathryn Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a spacewalk. Ride also flies on this mission, making it the first American spaceflight to include two female crew members.

May 18, 1991 - British chemist Helen Sharman becomes the first European woman in space, spending eight days on the Soviet space station Mir.

September 12, 1992 - Mae Jemison, an American engineer and medical doctor, becomes the first black woman in space.

February 3, 1995 - Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot an American space shuttle. In July, 1999, she becomes the first woman commander of a US shuttle mission.

June-December 2002 - American biochemist Peggy Whitson serves as the first resident scientist aboard the International Space Station. She performs a 4.5-hour spacewalk and conducts 21 experiments in human life science and microgravity science. July 26, 2005 - Collins commands the Discovery for NASA's first shuttle mission since the Columbia accident in 2003.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur