Short answers, pulled from the story.
Valentina Tereshkova is a Russian engineer, politician, and former Soviet cosmonaut who became the first woman in space. She flew a solo mission aboard Vostok 6 on the 16th of June 1963, orbiting Earth 48 times.
Valentina Tereshkova launched aboard Vostok 6 on the 16th of June 1963. She spent 2 days, 22 hours, and 50 minutes in space, completing 48 orbits before parachuting down on the 19th of June.
Valentina Tereshkova was selected mainly for her skydiving experience, having made her first parachute jump on the 21st of May 1959. She was chosen on the 16th of February 1962 as one of five women, and the State Space Commission named her to pilot Vostok 6 on the 21st of May 1963.
Before her selection, Valentina Tereshkova worked at a tire factory and a textile mill and was an amateur skydiver. She graduated from the Light Industry Technical School in 1960 and joined the Communist Party in 1962.
Valentina Tereshkova was a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1974 to 1989 and the Central Committee from 1969 to 1991. She was elected to the State Duma in 2011 as a United Russia member and re-elected in 2016 and 2021, where she proposed lifting presidential term limits in 2020.
Valentina Tereshkova was sanctioned after she voted for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The U.S. Treasury added her to its sanctions list on the 30th of September 2022, freezing her assets, and the European Union imposed sanctions in December 2022.