Here are three women cosmonauts at Tyura-Tam prior to the launch of Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963. Left to right are Valentina Ponomareva, backup Irina Solovyeva, and prime crewmember Valentina Tereshkova. Behind the women are State Commission Chairman Georgiy Tyulin (left) and Strategic Missile Forces Commander-in-Chief Sergey Biryuzov. Tereshkova was the first woman in space, spending 3 days aboard Vostok 6.