When the first woman in space visited Valparaíso

The First Woman in Space

In the rural Russian town of Yaroslavl, 250 km northwest of Moscow, Valentina Tereshkova was born, daughter of a tractor driver who died during World War II, serving in the Red Army as a tank sergeant.

Despite her humble origins, Valentina was destined to go down in history. A few years later she had to leave formal education to start working as a textile worker. Her decision that would put her in the pages of history was to join a local skydiving club, which were common in the former Soviet Union.

In 1961, within the framework of the Cold War and the space race, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth. It was then that the high command of the USSR and the Soviet space program proposed and agreed that a woman should also fly on an upcoming mission.

The search for the suitable candidate was arduous, hundreds of women from all over Russia were recruited, to finally select only 5. Of these, Tereshkova had points in her favor, but there were others who also stood out. The competition and training was arduous, until finally Valentina was selected for the important mission, with the code name of Chaikawhich means seagull in Russian.

On June 16, 1963, at the age of 26, Valentina was launched into space aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft. The young cosmonaut remained alone in space for about three days and three nights, suffering from dizziness, headaches and nausea, fighting to carry out its logging and monitoring tasks, successfully completing 48 orbits of the Earth.

“This trip made it possible to know that female physiology could withstand space travel. In addition, Tereshkova has another record not yet surpassed. She was the first and only woman to fly alone into space. All the other women who went to space have done so in a crew in which there are men,” added doctor in Astrophysics Marina Stepanova, the Russian researcher who settled in Chile in the mid-1990s.

Valentina’s tour of Valparaíso

Almost 10 years later, our country had the honor of receiving her, at that time, already a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. On March 25, 1972, Valentina Tereshkova landed in Chile, along with her delegation made up of academics Valentina Titova, Liudmila Balajovskaia and Lidia Stefankina. At the airport she was received by First Lady Hortensia Bussi, and the story of her time in Santiago is best remembered. On this occasion, we want to remember her time in Valparaíso.

A week later, at 10 in the morning on Sunday, April 2, the cosmonaut and her delegation arrived at our beloved port, being received by a group of women on Santos Ossa Avenue. Immediately after, she attended the Velarde Theater, current Municipal Theater, where she gave a brief speech and a small cultural event took place. At this event, she was addressed by various women from the city, including Elena Valle, a university professor; and Silvia Vandorshe, representing the mothers’ centers.

At the end of this event, Valentina and her entourage went to the monument to Bernardo O’Higgins in the square of the same name, where they placed a floral offering at the feet of the statue. Subsequently, they went to the mayor’s office, to celebrate the welcome champagne there, and then they went to the Municipality.

Conversation

“I was 17 years old at that time, my father was the mayor of Valparaíso. “We received her upon her arrival from Santiago, and I accompanied her throughout her tour of the city,” recalled Iván Vuskovic, former councilor and son of the late Sergio Vuskovic, former mayor of the port who, coincidentally, did his postgraduate studies in the country of cosmonaut.

“She was at the Pedagogical Institute, which at that time was next to the Liceo Eduardo La Barra. There was a small event there, people asked questions and she answered, there was a translator, but in the audience there were also people who asked questions in Russian, and the translator translated them into Spanish. People asked her everything, from the view of the cosmos, what the world was like, what the earth looked like, or if she could recognize the countries when she was in space. Afterwards we visited the Chilean Soviet Institute, where there was a cocktail party and there she talked with many people,” added the former councilor.

The April 1 edition of La Nación also adds that “on the same day, between 91 and 9 p.m., the Chilean Soviet Institute of Culture, of Valparaíso, will pay a special tribute to the brave crew member of the Vostok VI, offering a reception that will be extended to the four Soviet professors at Lomonosov University, who accompany her on her trip to our country.”

Illustrious Citizen of Valparaíso?

The press of the time recorded in detail the itinerary that Valentina Tereshkova would have through Valparaíso, and mentioned that she would be named an Illustrious Citizen of the city. It is worth mentioning that during her time in Santiago, she was named Illustrious Citizen of Maipú.

In the March 30 edition, La Nación’s Buenos Aires correspondent, Sara Vial, wrote:

“The first woman to reach the cosmos aboard a spacecraft, Valentina Tereshkova will be named Illustrious Citizen of the city of Valparaíso. Within the program set for the visit to our country of the illustrious Soviet woman, a visit to our city has been scheduled, whose Municipality will proceed to hold a ceremony in her Hall of Honor to present her with the aforementioned distinction. (…) We are satisfied that Valentina obtains the honor that she deserves in our city, but at the same time, we think that given the quality of the feat that she accomplished in favor of Humanity. It would have been more appropriate for her to give him the MAXIMUM decoration that Valparaíso gives and which is the one that is given to Heads of State or people who have carried out work at a global level. What is more universal than a trip around the world in a cosmoship?”

The Sunday April 2 edition of the same newspaper added that “Mayor Sergio Vuskovic will present her with a medal and parchment, declaring her an Illustrious Citizen”.

The Municipality of Valparaíso was consulted about the registry of illustrious citizens appointed between the years 1970 and 1973, but unfortunately there is no record that Valentina was one of the people to receive that appointment. At the municipal office they explained that it may be due to various causes, among them, that many appointments were verbal, without further written or administrative record of the same.

On the other hand, we spoke with Iván de la Maza, 83 years old, and perhaps the only former councilor from that period who survives to this day. Iván was elected councilor for the Christian Democrats in 1967, and was re-elected in 1971; and that in 1972 he would be part of a Buenos Aires delegation that traveled to the Soviet Union.

When asked whether or not she was named an illustrious citizen, the former councilor answers affirmatively, emphasizing that he voted in favor.

Although in the Severín Library and the National Congress Library (BCN) there are no editions of that day of La Estrella de Valparaíso, La Unión, or El Mercurio de Valparaíso; An edition of El Siglo, dated April 3, was found in Santiago, in which correspondent Hernán Cisternas narrates the event.

Mystery

This surviving edition clarifies the mystery, and gives greater details of Tereshkova’s visit to the port:

“From the Municipality, Valentina went to the Municipality of Valparaíso, where she began a solemn session to comply with an agreement of that Corporation, which, at the initiative of Mayor Sergio Vuskovic, declared her an Honorary Citizen.”

“In that session, in the presence of the civil authorities and Carabineros of the province, he was awarded a diploma of honor and a gold medal. (…) Valentina took the stand to thank all the tributes paid to her”

Today Valentina Tereshkova is 87 years old, she is still an active woman, holding a political position in the Russian parliament. But she never returned to space, after her historic odyssey around the globe in 1963. In 2013 she indicated her interest in joining a space mission to Mars, even if it was a “one-way” trip. Surely Valentina Tereshkova will not board a spaceship again, but why not, a plane to Chile and a bus ticket to Valparaíso.