Valentina Ponomaryova, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Valentina Ponomaryova

Cosmonaut

Date of Birth: 18-Sep-1933

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia

Profession: astronaut, aircraft pilot, explorer

Nationality: Russia

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About Valentina Ponomaryova

  • Valentina Leonidovna Ponomaryova (Russian: ????????? ?????????? ??????????, born 18 September 1933) is a former Soviet cosmonaut, pilot and scientist. Ponomaryova left the school for girls ?156 in Moscow with a gold medal in 1951.
  • She graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1957 and the Zhukovsky-Academy, Monino in 1967. In December 1961, the selection of female cosmonauts was authorized by the Soviet Government, with the specific intention of ensuring the first woman in space was a Soviet citizen.
  • In February 1962 Ponomaryova was selected in a group of five female cosmonauts to be trained for a Vostok flight.
  • The group spent several months in intensive training, concluding with examinations in November 1962, after which the four remaining candidates were commissioned Junior Lieutenants in the Soviet Air Force.
  • Ponomaryova established herself as one of the leading candidates with Valentina Tereshkova and Irina Solovyova, and a joint mission profile was developed that would see two women launched into space, on solo Vostok flights on consecutive days.
  • The honour of being the first woman in space was to be given to Valentina Tereshkova who would launch first on Vostok 5 while Ponomaryova would follow her into orbit on Vostok 6.
  • However, Ponomaryova did not respond with standard Soviet cliches in interviews and her feminism made the Soviet leadership uneasy, and this led to the flight profile being altered in March 1963.
  • Vostok 5 would now carry a male, cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, flying the joint mission with Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963.
  • Tereshkova's backup was Irina Solovyova, with Ponomaryova in a supporting 'second back-up' role.
  • Despite this setback, Ponomaryova remained with the program until 1969.
  • She was at one stage slated to fly on a circumlunar Soyuz flight in 1965 before substantial delays in the Soyuz spacecraft led to the cancellation of this flight.
  • She was also to lead an all-female crew on a ten-day mission aboard Voskhod 5 but the program was cancelled before she had a chance to fly.
  • Ponomaryova retired in 1969 when it became clear that there were no plans for a female Soyuz flight.
  • Ponomaryova later worked in orbital mechanics at the Gagarin Training Center.
  • Following this, she was a research scientist at the Institute of Natural Historic Sciences.
  • She was awarded a Candidate of Technical Sciences degree in 1974.
  • She married fellow cosmonaut Yuri Ponomaryov in 1972 and the couple had two children before divorcing.
  • As with Valentina, Yuri did not get to fly into space although he did serve on the Soyuz 18 backup crew.

Read more at Wikipedia

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