Talk:Valentina Tereshkova/Archive 1

June 2004
To Ahoerstemeier: The reason I prefer to say Russian instead of Cyrillic is that the same name may be spelled differently among the various Cyrillic alphabets. For instance, the family name Волынов could not be spelled that way in the Ukrainian cyrillic alphabet because it does not have the letter "&#1099;". The most accurate link to use is probably Cyrillic alphabet, or the Ukrainian equivalent link for Ukrainian names. I don't really care either way but thought I would explain the change. —Fleminra 05:27, Jun 16, 2004 (UTC)

Out of limelight
May be she is now (2006), but she is/was the first female specie ever reaching outer-space of our planet, that achievement is far more important that many people think today. There will be space centers, space ports, space academies and cities in the new worlds (planets,moons) named after her in the future. In fact if you live and reading this in say year 2200 then you probably consider her achievement much more important then most of important things that anyone did in the 20th century. I hardly expect anybody will ever want to name a space port on Mars after any of our current politicians. — Preceding unsigned comment added by IEEE (talk • contribs) 01:45, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Very poorly worded?
"...is second in importance in Russian space history only to Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov." Should this be fixed? - --Mmathu 05:34, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

16 June
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on the 16th of June, I remember as the 16th is my Birthday. Dfrg.m s c 1. 2 . 3 10:21, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

First Woman in Space
Do you give any credence to this site or is it just the work of cranks/pranksters? Note the section about the "first woman in space." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.50.56.4 (talk) 23:58, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

No, this site and claims have been thoroughly debunked by reputable historians, and are not worth discussing further. SpacerPower (talk) 03:22, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Except perhaps to point out further that the woman on the "lost cosmonaut" recording is speaking something barely even recognizable as rather poor Russian, with a strong Italian accent. Next! Florestanová (talk) 18:43, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Mass Effect
Mass Effect, a Role playing game by Bioware, has a planet cluster called "Tereshkova" it is located in the Armstrong Nebula. There is also a cluster called "Gragarin (possible SP?)" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.188.242.69 (talk) 23:15, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * The moon - the goddamn moon - has a crater named after her. Mass Effect is just fluff. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 19:09, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Name pronunciation
The article has the pronunciation of her last name as "Терешко́ва", i.e. "Teh-resh-KOH-vah". Is that actually correct though? Because Russian surnames for women typically stress the syllable before the "-ova" part, i.e. "Teh-RESH-koh-vah". Can anyone confirm this? -- Hux (talk) 20:14, 13 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Hmm, the Russian version of the article has the pronunciation as "Терешко́ва" as well and I imagine they're probably right. ;) Never mind. -- Hux (talk) 20:16, 13 April 2011 (UTC)
 * T-yeh-r-yeh-shkoh-vah — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.13.38.144 (talk) 12:14, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I'm not a native Russian speaker but I do speak it decently well. Her name is pronounced "te-resh-KO-va", and the male equivalent is "tereshKOV." Accent tends to be on the "ov" part in either masculine or feminine name. (I think "te-RESH-ko-va" would be more of a Bulgarian pronunciation.) Florestanová (talk) 18:42, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Gordon Cooper
"At the time of her selection, Tereshkova was exactly ten years younger than the youngest Mercury Seven astronaut, Gordon Cooper." Was there a time when she wasn't exactly ten years younger than Gordon Cooper? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.110.106 (talk) 10:05, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

Political Stunt
Shouldn't this article address the fact the she had no flight or piloting experience, she had no control over her spacecraft, and her flight was no more than a political stunt so that the USSR could have another "first"? In addition, the claim that space adaptation syndrome was the reason that no further flights were made by her group is just ludicrous. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.245.66.34 (talk) 18:44, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Prove your "facts" at first.

She had extensive experience as both pilot and parachutist. The Vostok cosmonauts all had very little if any manual control of their spacecraft, it's how they were designed. Florestanová (talk) 18:44, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * "Extensive experience as a pilot"? I just don't see how that could be possible. She had one year or so to complete her training, she certainly hadn't been a pilot prior to her selection (she was an amateur/sport parachutist), and even spending the whole year full-time in an airplane cockpit would hardly count as "extensive experience". Unless you can support this with some sources, I have to conclude that any such claim is highly suspect. Gngeal (talk) 17:50, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Everyone can fully appreciate the pride of the Russian people and the world with regard to Tereshkova's space achievement, personal courage and subsequent good works. It is also well-established she had considerable personal aviation experience and was very physically fit at the time of her selection. There is, however, no doubt that the entire Soviet effort to be first to put a woman in space was but one of several purely political acts initiated by Khrushchev who considered the entire Soviet space program a propaganda exercise (this is detailed in Khrushchev's memoirs). "Chief Designer" Korolev did NOT initiate the idea and fought against it, considering it a waste of scarce resources. He also unsuccessfully fought against another Khrushchev idea as too dangerous for the cosmonauts - the first three man space flight Voskhod 1 aka Vostok 3KV. Voskhod had been designed for two and in order to fit three cosmonauts they had to fly without wearing their bulky spacesuits. Early versions of the subsequent Soyuz spacecraft had the same problem - the death of the three cosmonauts on Soyuz 11 was caused by asphyxiation and they would have survived if they had been wearing spacesuits. Upon their return to earth, Tereshkova and all other Vostok occupants, including Gagarin, ejected from their capsule at about 7,000 meters altitude and parachuted to the ground separately from their spacecraft because the capsule landed on hard ground and with greater force than an occupant could survive (USA spacecraft of the time all landed on water with the astronauts inside). Thus all Vostok cosmonauts were required to be accomplished parachutists. Since international aviation record rules required aviators to remain inside their aircraft/spacecraft at all times from takeoff to landing, all Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) aviation records garnered by the Vostok series flights were granted under false pretenses based on incorrect information provided by the Soviets (they claimed the cosmonauts landed inside their capsules). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.28.240.109 (talk) 15:03, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Misguided Evaluation of Merit: At times, the Wikipedia article was very contradicting in light of flight experience and merit prior to Tereshkova’s space journey. Two other Talk editors had previously commented on this misguided evaluation of merit, which had fully captured my attention. So naturally, I followed my curiosity with extensive research and discovered that these Talk comments were nonetheless true. The Wikipedia article expresses that Tereshkova had “extensive experience as a pilot.” This quotation is widely untrue because it was simply Tereshkova’s skydiving profession that had led to her selection as a cosmonaut. Before the big launch, Tereshkova and four other women received 18 months of training, which included tests to determine how she would react to long periods of time being alone, to extreme gravity conditions and to zero-gravity conditions. The Wikipedia article is wonderful in describing further details of their training. Although her training was very valuable, a mere 18 months should not be considered “extensive” by all means – especially prior to, at the time, the largest engagement of aeronautical history. 129.65.91.53 (talk) 22:33, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Important Missing Details of Tereshkova’s Flight
As the very first woman to reach the adventurous realm of outer space, only very little was mentioned about the inspiration behind Tereshkova’s glorious feat. Was this her lifelong fantasy? Where did her love for space derive? An inconceivable amount of questions bounced around in my thoughts, because behind every grand heroic triumph is that blazing drive and unwavering perseverance hoping to fulfill their dream. The Wikipedia article states, “After the flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961, Sergey Korolyov, the chief Soviet rocket engineer, came up with the idea of putting a woman in space. On 16 February 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was selected to join the female cosmonaut corps.” This statement does not precisely illustrate Tereshkova’s willingness to fly to space, so the additional statement should be added: “Tereshkova volunteered for the Soviet space program.” Also, the Wikipedia article fails to convey that Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was Tereshkova’s pivotal enlightenment that had led to her pursuit of space travel. And to gain a better sense of character, I propose to include a few quotations from the renowned Tereshkova: (1) "If women can be railroad workers in Russia, why can't they fly in space?" (2) "Anyone who has spent any time in space will love it for the rest of their lives. I achieved my childhood dream of the sky."129.65.91.53 (talk) 22:38, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Female experiments
"During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight." This is in the lede, unsourced, and unmentioned (possibly unmentionable) in the body of the article. I propose to remove it unless we can get more details. --Pete (talk) 23:27, 15 June 2013 (UTC)


 * I've removed it. It seems controversial enough that it shouldn't remain in the lede without a source. If a source is found, we should of course put it back. -- User1961914 (talk) 01:10, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Important Missing Details of Tereshkova’s Flight
Although Tereshkova’s flight was a bold accomplishment and a dazzling trophy in the eyes of the Soviet Union, the Wikipedia article neglects to reveal that the flight had almost turned into a tragedy. An error in the spacecraft's automatic navigation software caused the ship to move away from Earth. Tereshkova noticed this and Soviet scientists quickly developed a new landing algorithm. Tereshkova landed safely but received a bruise on her face. She landed in the Altay region near today's Kazakhstan-Mongolia-China border. Villagers helped Tereshkova out of her spacesuit and asked her to join them for dinner. Tereshkova was valiantly honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The unmentioned disclosure of Tereshkova’s flight aversion had me wondering – is this article hiding the truth as a means to appear flawlessly heroic? 129.65.91.53 (talk) 22:35, 15 October 2013 (UTC)
 * How can an orbiting, unpropelled object "move away" from earth? 46.114.155.27 (talk) 05:44, 23 June 2014 (UTC)

Politics
The article tells us: In 2011, she was elected to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature, where she continues to serve. Is it possible to know what political party she was elected for? Aridd (talk) 12:36, 17 September 2015 (UTC)

Former
The first sentence describes her as “a Russian former cosmonaut.” I think the word “former” is unnecessary. She is still an astronaut/cosmonaut, since she traveled into space. It will be understood that she is a “former” astronaut, insofaras she is presumably no longer an active member of the astronaut corps. (Her only spaceflight was in June 1963.)--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 00:18, 8 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Changed the wording to "retired", which is more accurate. — Maile (talk) 21:48, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

Olga
Is she related to Olga Tereshkova? (Or rather, Olga’s husband?)--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 22:20, 15 March 2016 (UTC)
 * They are almost certainly not related, if they were related the info would have been all over the Internet. In fact Valentina's biographies emphasize that she does not have much of relatives. Tereshkov(a) is a reasonably common Russian surname. Alex Bakharev (talk) 00:39, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

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Civilian?
If:


 * "In order to join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was honorarily inducted into the Soviet Air Force"
 * "in November 1962 [the] four remaining candidates were commissioned Junior Lieutenants in the Soviet Air Force"
 * "In 1997, she was retired from the Russian Air Force"

why are we describing her 1963 spaceflight as being by a civilian? Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:14, 12 February 2018 (UTC)


 * She is described in various sources as a civilian: LIFE The Great Space Race: How the U.S. Beat the Russians to the Moon and Beyond: Our Future in Space by Chris Impey. K.e.coffman (talk) 04:09, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

Peer review
A review was requested over at WP:Women in Green. This very informal review is intended to provide suggestions for the article in anticipation of a GA nomination. I went through the article section by section with the GA criteria in mind. Please feel free to use my suggestions where they are helpful and disregard my suggestions if they are not helpful. Best of luck on the journey to GA.

Lead
 * I would cite that she is a hero in post-soviet Russia because its subjective claim.
 * The first civilian distinction should probably be covered in the article and cited there. Explanatory footnotes can also be a helpful way to include the explanation for why she was considered a civilian.
 * Only woman to have been on a solo space mission should be cited in the article and not the lead. I would also say "as of 2018" to keep the article from becoming out of date.

Early life
 * The sentence "Her mother to had three children" should be re-phrased. I'm not sure if the answer to this is out there or not, but I'm curious how the other children are related to Valentina. Are they older siblings, younger siblings, half-siblings?
 * Any citation needed template needs to be addressed.
 * Was she a textile worker first? Maybe put that information first in the article. Something like, "After graduating from Light Industry Technical School, Tereshkova started working at a textile factory. In her spare time..."
 * I might move the bit about her skydiving leading to her becoming a cosmonaut until the next section.

Soviet space program
 * I think some of the information about her father being a tank leader and war hero could be presented in early life.
 * The second paragraph needs citations. Other parts of this section also need citations.
 * Why is it significant that she is ten years younger than Cooper?
 * What is the significant of the urinating on the tire? Is it just showing she was one of the boys? If there are any traditions among male cosmonauts its kind of presumable she would be the first woman to partake.

Education
 * I would recommend either expanding or folding this into another section. It also needs to be cited.

Soviet political career Some honors are covered here and there is also a separate section for Honors and awards later int he article.
 * The first sentence covers a lot of information. I think each of those positions would warrant a fuller explanation about how she was chosen and what she did.
 * This section needs a lot more citations

Post-Soviet political career
 * The claim that she lost none of her prestige should be cited.
 * I would consider moving her importance only being surpassed by Gagarin and Leonov to another section. It doesn't feel like it's part of her career. It sounds more like legacy/recognition.
 * Being written about in books also feels out of place.
 * The last two paragraphs are too short. I recommend expanding them or combining them.
 * Reading this section, it feels like a mix of honors/legacy/and public life. I would recommend renaming the section maybe Post-Soviet public life and focusing on her public life in Post-Soviet Russia. I would consider moving other information to other sections.

Personal life
 * Any information on her relationship with Nikolayev before they married? when did she meet and/or marry Shaposhnikov?

Honors and awards
 * I admittedly don't know all that much about images in GA, but I would consider cutting down on some of the images in this section.
 * Consider making Honors and awards a stand alone list. That would keep you from having to cite everything here. You could then just maybe do a few paragraphs summarizing and explaining some of her most notable awards.

In popular culture
 * This section reads like a list. I would consider grouping together similar mentions. For example, Orange is the New Black and Call the Midwife could be combined into once sentence about how these shows mention Tereshkova as a hero.

That's it for now. Please let me know if anyone has questions about any of my comments. Knope7 (talk) 17:31, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

Anniverseries
Not sure if we will make a section on anniverseries at all, or if it belongs here or in the flight article, but here is an article on it. It also briefly talks about the her museum reopening which could be useful.  Kees08  (Talk)   05:36, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

Images
The statue image cannot be included because no freedom of panorama. In my opinion it does not meet the fair use rationale as well, so we will have to wait a few more years until we can include it.  Kees08  (Talk)   15:40, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I see. Damn FOP! --- Coffee  and crumbs  15:46, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

Legacy
I am not sure we should add it, but an article explains a bit why there have only been four female cosmonauts so far. It might be relevant for some sort of legacy or impact section; it certainly seems relevant, just not sure where to put it.  Kees08  (Talk)   06:36, 20 June 2019 (UTC)
 * That certainly seems appropriate now. The appropriate section headings will become more clear as we go. Just add a few sentences and we will see how it goes. --- Coffee  and crumbs  07:42, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

Initial number of recruits
Burgess/Hall says that the DOSAAF submitted 400 names, what does your source say?  Kees08  (Talk)   01:47, 23 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Evans (2010) p. 49, and Hall/Shayler/Vis (2007), p. 125 – both say 200 candidates. Hall/Shayler/Vis cite Shayler/Moule which Amazon is send to me Sunday. --- Coffee  and crumbs  02:17, 23 June 2019 (UTC)
 * This is the best I can gather from sources:
 * DOSAAF selected 400
 * Kamanin had either only asked for 200 or he asked for more details on 200 of the 400 from DOSAAF.
 * Kamanin hoped for 100 "suitable" candidates but only 58 candidates met the requirements during initial local screening.
 * Kamanin invited 23 to Moscow for interviews on 18 January 1962. --- Coffee  and crumbs  00:22, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Kamanin invited 23 to Moscow for interviews on 18 January 1962. --- Coffee  and crumbs  00:22, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

Spaceflight101
I am a little confused on the Spaceflight101 source. Did they reprint her whole book? Or did they have different content, or reprint part of the book..? If it was a reprint of her book it might be better to source it directly if we can.  Kees08  (Talk)   17:10, 12 July 2019 (UTC)
 * They reprinted the journal article as a very short memoir/book and they added a preface. I only cite the preface which is not written by Tereshkova. --- Coffee  and crumbs  17:24, 12 July 2019 (UTC)

Political career and awards
The political career section needs to be split. She appears to have had a continued career in the space program as a trainer. I assume she was barred from flying again in a similar way Gagarin was. Concurrently she was appointed/elected to the Supreme Soviet and served as a sort of diplomat touring the world. Just making sure we are on the same page. --- Coffee  and crumbs  03:36, 22 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I will look into that. I am done editing for tonight if you want in. Also, if her book as any information on her world tour and associated awards she received that would be great. Not sure where we are going to get all of those citations, Gagarin's were easy enough to find (well, not easy, but findable!), but Tereshkova is another story. The section I was just writing needed a lot of work, and will still need work after I am through with it; I suspect the rest of the article is in a similar state. Will try to do the best I can this weekend.  Kees08  (Talk)   03:42, 22 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I have sources for everything up until the we get to the Awards and honours section. I will be going deep over the weekend. I say we do our best with the awards section and quarantine the rest on the talk page. --- Coffee  and crumbs  03:51, 22 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Energia and says "Based on materials from reference book "Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. 1960-2000" under the general editorship of Doctor of Law, Pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation Yu.M.Baturin. I do not have access to that resource but perhaps one of us can find it.  Kees08  (Talk)   06:35, 22 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I think we should use this as well, consistent with Gagarin: http://www.astronaut.ru/as_rusia/lady62/text/tereshkova.htm. It appears to be the original source for all these cosmonaut CVs. --- Coffee  and crumbs  07:10, 22 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I have copied her awards to Draft:List of awards and honours received by Valentina Tereshkova, so anything we can't verify in the above two links we axe for now. --- Coffee  and crumbs  07:13, 22 June 2019 (UTC)
 * can you put the awards and honours in chronological order? --- Coffee  and crumbs  17:36, 12 July 2019 (UTC)


 * That was my first impression looking through the article. But this type of sorting might be difficult when you come to Order of Merit for the Fatherland, and Certificates of appreciation from the Government of the Russian Federation.  A different suggestion might be to separate into sublists - those from Russia, and those from other countries. GA is not riding on this issue. — Maile  (talk) 19:58, 12 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Will see if I can get to this prior to prime time.  Kees08  (Talk)   03:07, 14 July 2019 (UTC)

"First woman in space" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect First woman in space. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Steel1943 (talk) 20:38, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

"First woman into space" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect First woman into space. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Steel1943 (talk) 20:38, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

Marriage
I have read, somewhere in the dim past, a rumour that she was encouraged (or ordered?) to marry another cosmonaut who had been in space in order to see if their children would show any effects from their parents' exposure to radiation. Does anyone have info on this? PhilUK (talk) 21:24, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
 * , yes, they were strongly encouraged to marry. However, the sources I have indicate this was for the propaganda reasons. This is mentioned in the #Personal life section. Tereshkova at that time really wanted to go back to space and I would assume she would have done anything Kamanin asked her to do. --- Coffee  and crumbs  21:32, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

She did actually marry... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.181.132.163 (talk) 02:57, 17 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, she was married to Andriyan Nikolayev for almost two decades. --- C &amp; C  (Coffeeandcrumbs) 03:09, 17 December 2019 (UTC)