View source for Vostok 6

{{Short description|1963 Soviet crewed spaceflight}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name                  = Vostok 6
| image                 = Vostok 6 capsule on display, 2016.jpg
| image_caption         = The Vostok 6 capsule in a museum display (2016)
| insignia              = Vostok 6 patch.jpg
| mission_type          =
| operator              = [[Soviet space program]]
| COSPAR_ID             = 1963-023A
| SATCAT                = 595
| mission_duration      = 2&nbsp;days, 22&nbsp;hours, 50&nbsp;minutes
| orbits_completed      = 48
| spacecraft            = [[Vostok (spacecraft)|Vostok-3KA]] No.8
| manufacturer          = Experimental Design Bureau [[OKB-1]]
| launch_mass           = {{convert|4713|kg|lb}}
| landing_mass          =
| launch_date           = {{start-date|16 June 1963, 09:29:52|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC
| launch_rocket         = [[Vostok-K]] 8K72K
| launch_site           = [[Baikonur Cosmodrome|Baikonur]] [[Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1|1/5]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.astronautix.com/sites/baiurlc1.htm |title=Baikonur LC1 |access-date=2009-03-30 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Astronautica]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415160730/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/baiurlc1.htm |archive-date=2009-04-15 }}</ref>
| landing_date          = {{end-date|19 June 1963, 08:20|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC
| landing_site          = {{coord|53.209375|N|80.80395|E}}<ref>{{cite web|url = https://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&lci=org.wikipedia.en&q=53.209375,80.80395(Vostok+6)&ie=UTF8&ll=53.209342,80.803944&spn=0.001539,0.004324&z=18|title = Google Maps - Vostok 6 Landing Site - Monument Location|access-date = 2010-12-25}}</ref>
| orbit_epoch           = 16 June 1963, 05:36:00&nbsp;UTC<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-023A|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Trajectory Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-05-02|archive-date=2022-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429173445/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-023A|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| orbit_reference       = [[geocentric orbit|Geocentric]]
| orbit_regime          = [[low Earth orbit|Low Earth]]
| orbit_eccentricity    = 0.00365
| orbit_periapsis       = {{convert|164|km|mi}}
| orbit_apoapsis        = {{convert|212|km|mi}}
| orbit_inclination     = 65.09&nbsp;degrees
| orbit_period          = 88.25&nbsp;minutes
| apsis                 = gee
| crew_size             = 1
| crew_members          = [[Valentina Tereshkova]]
| crew_callsign         = {{lang|ru|Чайка}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|Chayka}} - "Seagull")<ref name="Yenne">{{cite book |last=Yenne |first=Bill |title=The Pictorial History of World Spaceflight |publisher=Exeter |year=1988 |isbn=0-7917-0188-3 |page=27}}</ref>
| crew_photo            = RIAN archive 612748 Valentina Tereshkova.jpg
| crew_photo_caption    = [[Valentina Tereshkova]], first female [[cosmonaut]], [[Hero of the Soviet Union]], 1969.
| previous_mission      = [[Vostok 5]]
| programme             = '''[[Vostok program]]'''
}}
'''Vostok 6''' ({{langx|ru|Восток-6||[[Orient]] 6' or 'East 6}}) was the first [[human spaceflight]] to carry a woman, [[astronaut|cosmonaut]] [[Valentina Tereshkova]], into space.<ref>{{Cite news|title = 1963: Soviets launch first woman into space|url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/16/newsid_2685000/2685283.stm|newspaper = BBC|date = 1963-06-16|access-date = 2015-11-28}}</ref>

==Mission==
The spacecraft was launched on 16 June 1963. It set the record for highest orbital inclination of a crewed spacecraft at 65°, a record not broken until the 90° [[polar orbit]] of [[Fram2]] nearly 62 years later.<ref name="Glushko 1985"/><ref name="Wattles 2025">{{cite web | last=Wattles | first=Jackie | title=Fram2: Why the next SpaceX mission will carry humans around the Earth’s poles | website=CNN | date=March 30, 2025 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/30/science/fram2-space-tourism-spacex/index.html | access-date=April 5, 2025}}</ref> While [[Vostok 5]] had been delayed by technical problems, Vostok 6's launch proceeded with no difficulties. Data collected during the mission provided better understanding of the female body's reaction to spaceflight. Like other cosmonauts on Vostok missions, Tereshkova maintained a flight log, took photographs, and manually oriented the spacecraft. Her photographs of the horizon from space were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere. The mission, a joint flight with [[Vostok 5]], was originally conceived as being a joint mission with two Vostoks each carrying a female cosmonaut, but this changed as the Vostok program experienced cutbacks as a precursor to the retooling of the program into the [[Voskhod program]]. Vostok 6 was the last flight of a [[Vostok 3KA]] spacecraft and the final flight of the [[Vostok programme]].

The Vostok 6 landing site coordinates are {{Coord|53.209375|N|80.80395|E}}, {{cvt|200|km}} west of [[Barnaul]], Altai, Russia and {{cvt|7|km}} south of Baevo, and {{cvt|650|km}} northeast of [[Karagandy]], [[Kazakhstan]]. At the site, in a small park at the roadside is a statue of Tereshkova, with arms outstretched, at the top of a curved column.<ref>{{cite web|title=Google Maps – Vostok 6 Landing Site − Monument Photo closeup|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pamyatnik+V.tereshkovoy/@53.2093642,80.8048211,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipOlVGIy5gP24YSkygw1KsfP8CbPKgAd4VIs4zhZ!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOlVGIy5gP24YSkygw1KsfP8CbPKgAd4VIs4zhZ%3Dw86-h114-k-no!7i3456!8i4608!4m5!3m4!1s0x42e4461fdb5f3707:0x238517aadbf40f48!8m2!3d53.2093572!4d80.8039801!5m1!1e4|access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref>

The capsule is now on display at the [[RKK Energia Museum]] in [[Korolyov (city)|Korolyov]] (near [[Moscow]]). From September 2015 it formed part of the content of the "Cosmonauts" exhibition at the [[Science Museum, London]]. The Exhibition featured many iconic objects from the Soviet space program.

=== During flight ===
The Soviet state television network broadcast live video of Tereshkova from a camera inside the capsule, and she conversed with Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] over the radio. Communications with ground controllers about her overall health were described in post-flight reports as "evasive", and later official accounts of the mission had somewhat condescending remarks about Tereshkova's overall in-flight performance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok6_flight.html |title=Tereshkova orbits the Earth aboard Vostok-6 |work=Russian in Space |date=2013 |access-date=2019-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630172429/http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok6_flight.html |archive-date=30 June 2019 }}</ref>

[[File:Radio Moscow announcement of Valentina Tereshkova space flight.ogg|thumb|[[Radio Moscow]] announces the historic flight of Tereshkova]]
In Tereshkova's account of the mission in her postflight debriefing, she mentioned having assorted body pains and difficulty with her helmet headset (also reported by Bykovsky on Vostok 5). She vomited while attempting to eat, although she attributed this to the taste of the food rather than her physical condition.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Vostok 6|url = http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok6.htm|website = www.astronautix.com|access-date = 2015-11-28|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131108102000/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok6.htm|archive-date = 2013-11-08}}</ref> Another problem was that while the Soviet space agency had provided her with food, water and tooth paste, they had forgotten to pack a toothbrush.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11871598/Russia-forgot-to-send-toothbrush-with-first-woman-in-space.html |title=Russia forgot to send toothbrush with first woman in space |first=Sarah |last=Knapton |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=17 September 2015 |access-date=20 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324104013/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11871598/Russia-forgot-to-send-toothbrush-with-first-woman-in-space.html |archive-date=2016-03-24 |url-status=live }}</ref>

An official history of the Soviet space program published in 1973 described Tereshkova's physical condition and in-flight performance as {{lang|ru-Latn|udovletvoritel'noe}} ({{lang|ru|удовлетворительное}}, 'fair' or 'adequate') rather than {{lang|ru-Latn|otlichno}} ({{lang|ru|отлично}}, 'good' or 'outstanding').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok6_flight.html |title=Tereshkova orbits the Earth aboard Vostok-6 |work=Russian in Space |date=2013 |access-date=2019-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630172429/http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok6_flight.html |archive-date=30 June 2019 }}</ref>

=== During landing ===
Like all the previous [[Vostok programme|Vostok]] flights, Tereshkova had to eject.  She landed safely by parachute.

It was revealed in 2004 that an error in the control program made the spaceship ascend from orbit instead of descending. Tereshkova noticed the fault on the first day of the flight and reported it to spacecraft designer [[Sergey Korolev]]. Flight controllers then provided Tereshkova with data to enter into the descent program.<ref name="First Woman Cosmonaut...">{{cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.com/p-10235/Vostok-6_error/|title=World First Woman Cosmonaut Speaks About Error of Vostok Designers |work=Kommersant|date=2 March 2007|access-date=2013-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304081938/http://www.kommersant.com/p-10235/Vostok-6_error/|archive-date=4 March 2007}}</ref> By request of Korolev, Tereshkova kept the problem secret. "I kept silent, but [[Yevgeny Khrunov|Evgeny Vasilievich]] decided to make it public. So, I can easily talk about it now."<ref name="First Woman Cosmonaut..."/>

==Pilot==
{{Spaceflight crew
|position1       = Pilot
|crew1_up        = [[Valentina Tereshkova]]
|flights1_up     = Only
}}
=== Backup ===
{{Spaceflight crew
|position1       = Pilot
|crew1_up        = [[Irina Solovyova]]
}}
=== Reserve ===
{{Spaceflight crew
|position1       = Pilot
|crew1_up        = [[Valentina Ponomaryova]]
}}

==Mission parameters==
{{cn|date=December 2022}}
* '''[[Mass]]:''' {{convert|4713|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
* '''[[Apogee]]:''' {{convert|231|km|mi|abbr=on}}
* '''[[Perigee]]:''' {{convert|180|km|mi|abbr=on}}
* '''[[Inclination]]:''' 64.9°
* '''[[Orbital period|Period]]:''' 88.3 minutes<ref name="Glushko 1985">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last1= Glushko|editor-first1=Valentin P. |editor-link1=Valentin Glushko |date=1985 |title=Entsiklopediya Kosmonavtika |trans-title=Encyclopedia of Cosmonauts|publisher= Sovetskaya Entsiklopedia |language=Russian |location=Moscow }} As referenced by {{cite web |last=Zak|first=Anatoly|editor-last1=Chabot|editor-first1=Alain|date=June 18, 2016| title=Vostok-5 and Vostok-6 missions | website=www.russianspaceweb.com | url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok6_aftermath.html | access-date=April 5, 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Portal|Spaceflight|Soviet Union}}
{{Vostok Programme}}
{{Orbital launches in 1963}}

[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 1963]]
[[Category:1963 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Valentina Tereshkova]]
[[Category:Human spaceflights]]
[[Category:Vostok programme]]
[[Category:Spacecraft which reentered in 1963]]
[[Category:June 1963]]