Question 1

True or false: Tereshkova was the first person to perform a spacewalk.

Accepted Answer

False. Alexei Leonov did the first spacewalk in 1965. Tereshkova never left her spacecraft during her mission.

Question 2

True or false: Valentina Tereshkova was a textile worker before she became a cosmonaut.

Accepted Answer

True. She worked at a textile mill and was an amateur skydiver, which helped her get selected for the space program in 1962.

Question 3

True or false: At age 26, Valentina Tereshkova became the youngest woman ever to fly in space in 1963.

Accepted Answer

True. She was 26 years and 3 months old during her Vostok 6 flight on June 16, 1963, setting the record for youngest female astronaut.

Question 4

True or false: Valentina Tereshkova spent nearly three days in space, orbiting Earth 48 times.

Accepted Answer

True. Her Vostok 6 mission lasted 70 hours and 50 minutes, completing 48 orbits from June 16–19, 1963.

Question 5

True or false: Tereshkova later flew a second mission to the Salyut space station.

Accepted Answer

False. She only flew once. After her historic flight, she became a political figure and never returned to space.

Question 6

True or false: Valentina Tereshkova secretly married fellow cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev after their missions.

Accepted Answer

False. Their 1963 marriage was highly publicized by the Soviet state, not secret—though they later divorced privately.

Question 7

True or false: Valentina Tereshkova's Vostok 6 spacecraft had a manual control issue that Valentina Tereshkova fixed during the flight.

Accepted Answer

True. A navigation glitch made the craft drift; Tereshkova manually corrected it using ground instructions, showcasing her skill.

Question 8

True or false: Tereshkova took a cat named Felix with her on her space mission.

Accepted Answer

False. France flew a cat named Félicette in 1963, but Tereshkova's Vostok 6 carried no animals—she piloted it solo.

Valentina Tereshkova Trivia Questions