Page 170 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

What was Vostok 6?

How the first woman was sent into space
he Soviet Union achieved many fi rsts in Vostok 6 capsule
the quest to explore space. They Tereshkova’s The spherical capsule
Tlaunched the fi rst artifi cial satellite, spacecraft contained a 2.3m (7.5ft)
wide pressurised cabin,

Sputnik, in 1957, sent the first animal, Laika with an ejection seat for
the dog, beyond Earth’s atmosphere in the The Vostok 6 capsule Tereshkova to sit in.
same year, and then launched the fi rst human and its launch vehicle
into orbit, Yuri Gagarin, four years later.
However, they weren’t ready to stop there, and
so in 1963 they beat America to yet another Air supply
space race milestone – sending the fi rst Tanks of compressed
woman into space. nitrogen and oxygen
Valentina Tereshkova was a textile factory provided breathable
worker and keen skydiver before starting Payload fairing air for Tereshkova
cosmonaut training in 1962. She was chosen for The Vostok 6 capsule was and propulsion for
the spacecraft.
shielded during launch by
her excellent parachuting skills, as she would two petal-like coverings
be required to eject from her Vostok 6 called the payload fairing.
spacecraft when returning to Earth and
parachute down separately. Just one year later,
at the age of 26, she was ready for her mission, Instrument section
uttering the words “Hey, sky! Take off your hat, Final stage The conical module
I’m coming!” just before launch. The upper section of underneath the capsule
However, Tereshkova wasn’t actually alone the rocket contained contained the Earth-
in space, as two days earlier Vostok 5 had the Vostok 6 capsule return rocket and thermal
and helped insert it
control systems.
launched onto the same orbital path. It was into orbit.
originally intended for both spacecraft to be
piloted by women, with Tereshkova at the
controls of Vostok 5, but male astronaut Valery Core stage
Bykovsky ended up in the capsule. The two Also using kerosene
and liquid oxygen as
spacecraft came within five kilometres (three Rocket booster fuel, the middle section

miles) of each other in orbit, and Bykovsky The Vostok’s boosters continued to provide
reported that Tereshkova hummed songs to used RD-107 engines, thrust when the
him via radio link before they drifted apart which had been boosters fell away.
and the connection was lost. After Bykovsky developed from the
world’s fi rst
had completed 82 obits of Earth and intercontinental
Tereshkova had done 48, both cosmonauts ballistic missiles.
successfully returned to Earth on the same
day. Tereshkova was almost unconscious
when she landed, but by the following day she The two

was well enough to film a re-enactment. She
soon became a global celebrity, but it would be
19 years before another woman, Svetlana
Savitskaya, would follow in her footsteps. came within
Much of Vostok 6’s
heat shield was burnt three miles
during re-entry,
revealing the
insulation layer of each other
beneath

First stage
Each of the four boosters had a
rocket engine at the base, and
were fuelled by kerosene and
liquid oxygen.

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