User:Bgriff7/Irina Solovyova

Irina Solovyova, born on September 6, 1937, is a retired Soviet cosmonaut. She is known for being one out of the five females chosen for join the Soviet Union's all-female space squad. Although she was mainly needed as back up for Valentina Tereshkova, Solovyova had a great contribution to the beginning of female exploration of space. Solovyova was chosen to fly on Voskhod 5, where she would have become the first woman to walk in space. However, this program was cancelled and replaced after Voskhod 2, by the favorable Soyuz program.

Solovyova trained in Star City of the Soviet Union, the home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center since the 1960s. To qualify for the group, it was mandatory that Solovyova, along with her space squad, be under 30 years of age, under 170 cm tall, and under 70 kilograms. The four other females she trained with include Zhanna Yorkina, Tatyana Kuzenetsova, Valentina Ponomareva, and Valentina Tereshkova. Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space, was eventually chosen to fly over Solovyova. Solovyova became her alternate and in June 1963, Tereshkova reached space. In her training, she completed cosmonaut training courses and academic studies of rocket theory and spacecraft engineering. She also successfully completed 120 parachute jumps and certified her pilot training in MiG-15UTI jet trainers.

Although Solovyova did not reach space, she was still nationally recognized and was awarded the Belarusian Order For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces, 3rd class. g.

Solovyova, originally from Ural, was an engineer with a science degree before she was chosen to join the space squad. Solovyova was also a member of the national skydiving team along with her fiancé at the time, Sergey Kiselev, who was a skydiving instructor.

Solovyova was also selected to have the opportunity to be the first woman to walk in space, however Svetlana Savitskaya ended up being chosen. Before she was chosen to be a cosmonaut, Solovyova was a world champion member of Soviet's national parachutists.