Men of the first female cosmonaut: what does Valentina Tereshkova prefer to remain silent about? Biography of Valentina Tereshkova.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova wrote her name in golden letters in the history of astronautics. Indeed, human flight outer space– is by no means an ordinary event capable of impressing the whole world. Especially if this astronaut - fragile woman, such a step in the eyes of the public looks akin to a feat!
The future world celebrity was born in the village of Maslennikovo, Tutaevsky district Yaroslavl region March 6, 1937. Her family was completely absorbed in work in the field agriculture. Valya's father, Vladimir Aksenovich Tereshkov, realized himself in the difficult work of a tractor driver. My mother worked on a collective farm, in a textile factory.
Valentina Tereshkova in her youth
Tereshkova's childhood was quite difficult, as it occurred during the war years, when trouble, devastation and despair reigned all around. And taking into account the fact that in 1939 her father died at the front during the Soviet-Finnish military conflict, the future celebrity then experienced a very difficult period of life.
Little Valyusha first went to school in 1945, just after the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. But given the rather difficult financial situation in her family, in 1955, immediately after finishing the seventh grade, she was forced to leave school and get a job at a tire production plant located in the city of Yaroslavl.
However, the girl still finished high school, having entered the evening department, general program which in those days the majority of Soviet people comprehended.
It so happened, perhaps even by the will of fate, that at the age of 17 Tereshkova signed up and eagerly went to the Yaroslavl flying club. She liked parachute jumping, which was often practiced there. In total, Valentina Vladimirovna completed 163 jumps from an airplane, which is a very respectable figure, especially for a woman. Tereshkova even received a sports category for her success in parachuting.
Parachuting was so successful in attracting Valentina Vladimirovna’s attention that she could no longer stop doing it. And it was thanks to this hobby that her difficult and quite thorny path to the astronaut team.
After successfully completing evening school, Valentina enters the correspondence department of the Light Industry College. Here the training process lasted 5 years, from 1955 to 1960.
Having entered the Krasny Perekop enterprise in 1960, Tereshkova immediately became a secretary Komsomol organization. I was able to successfully work in this position for two years.
Back in 1962 famous designer rocket and space technology, Sergei Korolev was the first to voice the idea of sending a woman to conquer outer space. This idea was approved at the level of the top leadership of the then ruling communist party.
Afterwards, a thorough search began for the most suitable candidate to translate this bold plan into reality.
However, the process of choosing a female astronaut was quite difficult. Basic requirements were presented to all participants: the candidate must be involved in parachuting, her height must be up to 170 centimeters, and her weight must not exceed 70 kilograms.
Five girls were initially selected as the main cosmonaut candidates, among whom was Tereshkova. All the girls began daily grueling training, during which it became clear that Valentina Tereshkova was the most suitable candidate for space flight.
And then June 16, 1963 came - a landmark day for Tereshkova. It was then that she launched on board the Vostok-6 spaceship towards the unknown and mysterious expanses of space. The flight took more than two days and all this time Valentina was in a state of weightlessness, having completed 48 orbits around planet Earth!
At the end of the program, the Vostok-6 spacecraft landed in the Bayevsky district of the Altai Territory. For such a high achievement in the field of astronautics, as well as for the perseverance and perseverance demonstrated to the whole world in achieving the intended goal, Tereshkova received honorary title"Hero Soviet Union" In addition, the first female cosmonaut in history was awarded the Order of Lenin, as well as the Gold Star medal.
To the last moment Valentina Vladimirovna’s relatives could not imagine that she would be able to conquer space! They could only hear the news about Tereshkova’s grandiose flight, which excited the entire public, on the radio!
The astronaut tried to hide her true intentions from them, saying that she was going to a skydiving competition. As the astronaut herself later admitted, the motive for her actions was dictated by the fact that she was afraid of the experiences of her loved ones, and therefore tried to protect them from these emotions.
In the history of world cosmonautics, Tereshkova’s flight became the only case when a woman alone was able to carry out such an extraordinary act!
Living ordinary earthly life, Tereshkova in 1963 married Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev, at that time also a famous cosmonaut. Soon, in 1964, they had a daughter, Elena. However, 1974 became a year of separation for Valentina Vladimirovna and Nikolaev, the family broke up, the couple divorced. She remarried Yuli Shaposhnikov, who died in 1999.
After her famous flight, Tereshkova worked as an instructor in the field of astronautics and was a spacecraft tester. In 1964 she entered the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, and in 1969 she graduated with honors, which included the profession of “pilot-cosmonaut-engineer”.
During her studies, Valentina Vladimirovna was able to write more than 50 in her specialization scientific works.
However, since 1966, Tereshkova has been actively immersed in social work. Thanks to her, the astronaut was able to get huge amount various awards, was awarded many recognitions both in the Soviet Union and far beyond its borders.
In the period from 1968 to 1987, Valentina Vladimirovna worked at high position Chairman of the Soviet Women's Committee. After this, Tereshkova holds the post of head of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Society of Friendship and Culture of Communication with foreign countries, where she worked until 1992.
Since 1992, Tereshkova has been the head of the presidium Russian Association international cooperation, and already in 1995 - Valentina Vladimirovna became the chairman of the Interdepartmental Council for Coordination of Activities Russian centers science.
She became a legend at the age of 26, having made the first flight of a woman into space. After that, Valentina Tereshkova’s whole life was in plain sight: endless trips, performances, interviews. It seems that behind such close attention there was simply nowhere to hide any secrets. But Valentina Tereshkova has always been able to keep secrets, and even today, when the famous woman is over 80 years old, she is not always ready to share her personal experiences.
Valentina Tereshkova and Andriyan Nikolaev
Just a few months after Valentina Tereshkova’s flight, the whole country learned that “Chaika” was marrying the famous cosmonaut No. 3 Andriyan Nikolaev, who was responsible for both the four-day flight and the first soaring in zero gravity of a spacecraft.
Hidden from prying eyes The personal life of the favorite of millions of Soviet people and her sudden marriage gave rise to many rumors. The most common version was Nikita Khrushchev’s personal order to marry two cosmonauts. However, friends and relatives of both cosmonauts claim that there was no instruction from the Secretary General. On the contrary, according to eyewitnesses, when Yuri Gagarin, looking at Nikolaev and Tereshkova, jokingly proposed marrying them, Khrushchev very seriously replied that this was a very personal matter.
Alexey Leonov, cosmonaut pilot, recalled that the relationship between Valentina Tereshkova and Andriyan Nikolaev began before his eyes. The cosmonaut corps rested in the Chemitokvadzhe sanatorium in Sochi, and there Valentina and her chosen one practically never parted. We went to the sea together, walked along picturesque park, were nearby in the dining room.
The famous space wedding was already played in November. True, it was not possible to celebrate it the way the newlyweds wanted. Nikita Khrushchev took the event under his personal control, ordering a celebration to be organized at the Government House. There, Nikita Sergeevich made a toast in which he advised young people to hurry up and have children.
As soon as the distinguished guest left the banquet, the bride and groom immediately went to Star City, where friends who did not have enough space at the high reception were waiting for them.
In June 1964, their daughter Elena was born. Valentina Vladimirovna had a hard time with pregnancy and added to her anxiety. to the expectant mother and the unknown. No one knew what impact her and her husband’s space flights could have on the child’s health. Moreover, all astronauts knew: puppies from dogs that had been in space were born either dead or with serious pathologies.
Fortunately, Elena was absolutely healthy, and her parents were happy.
But their happiness did not last long; soon problems began in the family. However, they could not even get a divorce without the highest permission general secretary. The astronauts divorced only after their daughter came of age.
From that very moment, Valentina Vladimirovna and Andriyan Grigorievich did not comment on either their family life or their divorce. They both decided to keep the personal private. Valentina Tereshkova soon married a second time, but Andriyan Nikolaev never married.
Already in mature age, answering the question why he remained lonely, cosmonaut No. 3 said that it was difficult to meet a female friend. And there were too many mercantile people on his way. They longed for a position in society and a wealthy life, but Andriyan Grigorievich expected future wife completely different. True, Alexey Leonov admitted that after the divorce, Nikolaev said: after Valentina, he doesn’t need anyone.
Valentina Tereshkova and Yuliy Shaposhnikov
The second time Valentina Tereshkova got married without pathos or public attention. Her husband Yuliy Shaposhnikov was a fairly well-known person in medical circles, a major general of the medical service. Yuliy Georgievich for a long time headed the Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics.
The life of the first female cosmonaut received enough attention from the public, but she resolutely protected her family from publicity. For many years, she did not give any comments about her relationship with Yuli Georgievich. But everyone who knew this family agreed: the couple lived in perfect harmony.
Yuli Shaposhnikov had a huge influence on Valentina Tereshkova’s daughter Elena. Friends believe that it was his positive example that forced the girl to choose medicine as her profession. Unfortunately, Valentina Tereshkova’s second husband died in 1999 from cancer.
Even today Valentina Tereshkova remains true to her principle of not talking about anything that does not concern her profession and social activities. She is still very active today, at 81 years old. The cosmonaut pilot, the only woman in the world who has flown around the Earth alone 48 times, is a deputy of the State Duma and sees her mission in helping people.
On March 6, the legendary Valentina Tereshkova celebrates her anniversary. She turns 80 years old. Since the very morning, Valentina Vladimirovna has been congratulated by her family and friends. Let us recall that the world's first flight of a female cosmonaut with the call sign “Chaika” took place from June 16 to June 19, 1963. Then the Vostok-6 ship, in which Tereshkova was located, circled the Earth 48 times. During the start, Valentina uttered a slightly modified quote from Mayakovsky’s “Clouds in Pants.”
"Hey! Heaven, take off your hat! “I’m coming to you,” the woman said.
While in orbit, Valentina led logbook and took photographs of the horizon, which were then used in atmospheric research. The difficulties that arose during the flight did not prevent the woman from landing safely and becoming one of the heroines of the Soviet Union.
After Valentina returned home, women did not travel into space for about twenty years. This is associated with the ban of Sergei Korolev, who decided not to risk the health of the fair sex. Years later, the work of Valentina Tereshkova was continued by Svetlana Savitskaya, who made the flight in 1982.
On Valentina Tereshkova’s birthday, Roscosmos launched a special promotion. The department encourages everyone to write a congratulation to the birthday girl and accompany it with the hashtag #gullanniversary. A video message to Valentina Vladimirovna has already been recorded by cosmonauts from the ISS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Valentina Tereshkova with two gifts – the sculpture “A Seagull Landing on the Water” and the painting “Seagulls over the Volga.” The head of state personally congratulated the female cosmonaut and thanked her for her service to the Fatherland.
HARD DESTINY
Valentina Tereshkova was born in 1937 in the Yaroslavl region. Her father was a tractor driver and died in the Finno-Ugric War, and her mother worked in a textile factory. Little Valentina had an ear for music and played the domra. In 1953 she completed seven classes. To help her family, the girl went to work at the Yaroslavl Tire Factory, and later moved to the Krasny Perekop technical textile mill. Your education future heroine country continued at the school for working youth.
Since 1959, Tereshkova has been involved in parachuting. After Valentina completed her studies at correspondence department College of Light Industry, she became a member of the All-Union Leninist communist union youth.
“Her road, of course, was difficult. IN early childhood father died. The mother left three children. There was nothing to feed. There was nowhere to put on shoes or clothes. And all this strengthened her. She graduated from technical school and seven-year school early. I joined DOSAAF and started jumping. I was looking everywhere for somewhere to somehow express myself,” Alexey Leonov, a friend of Valentina Tereshkova, told reporters.
The first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova during trainingThe first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova during training// Photo: ITAR-TASS
In 1962, Sergei Korolev decides to organize the first flight of a woman into space and begins searching for suitable candidates. One of the contenders is Valentina Tereshkova. As journalists report, in those days preference was given to female parachutists, because the astronaut needed to be able to eject after the descent vehicle had slowed down in the atmosphere. In March of the same Tereshkova became a participant in special training courses.
SECRET FLIGHT
Valentina Tereshkova hid her important task from her family and friends. During the woman's flight, a tragedy could occur, so she signed a non-disclosure agreement. “When I was flying to the cosmodrome, I wrote several letters to my mother and asked those who remained at the Training Center to send them in a couple of days,” the woman later shared.
On the day of Tereshkova’s flight, news of a significant event for the country was announced on television. Neighbors of Elena Fedorovna, the mother of a female cosmonaut, immediately shared important news with her.
Later, Valentina’s parent met her at the airport. Members of the government headed by Nikita Khrushchev were also there. Tereshkova remembers that moment as if it were now.
“And suddenly I hear my mother say loudly: that’s it - my daughter deceived me. I stopped for a second... Well, my mother is standing nearby, crying. Then there were hugs and congratulations... Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev and Alexey Nikolaevich Kosygin came up. They say to mom: “Elena Fedorovna, it’s still in the name of a big secret that she didn’t tell you anything.” Mom often later recalled this incident, that I deceived her. But this is already, you know, in a kind, motherly way,” said Valentina Vladimirovna.
It is worth noting that Tereshkova considers herself obliged to her mother in many ways. According to Valentina Vladimirovna, it was a loved one who became the reason why she decided to become an astronaut. The Hero of the Soviet Union calls Elena Fedorovna his devoted friend and assistant. Her death was a real tragedy for Tereshkova.
“I lived with my mother all my life. And for me, her death - and my mother was a seriously ill person, suffered three strokes - if I say that it was a blow, it would be too soft. I couldn’t forgive the Earth for taking my mother away from me,” she says.
ON A HASH FROM DEATH
Several decades after Valentina Tereshkova’s flight, it turned out that she could have died in space. An emergency situation occurred on board Vostok-6. The problem was that the ship's equipment was programmed incorrectly.
“There was an emergency situation that I noticed on the very first day. I reported about it to Sergei Pavlovich Korolev and Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. The mistake was that during the descent the program was planned not for landing, but for raising orbits,” the woman shared.
// Photo: Vladimir Savostyanov / ITAR-TASS
The astronaut immediately reported the error and received new data. This helped her avoid trouble and land safely. After Valentina Tereshkova returned, Sergei Korolev approached her and asked her not to talk about what happened. “That’s why I kept this secret for 30 years,” the woman said during a press conference held in 2013.
DREAMS AND WEAKNESSES OF A HEROINE
In one of the interviews, Valentina Vladimirovna admitted that she always wanted to fly to Mars. “It was the dream of the first group of astronauts - a flight to the Red Planet. Oh, if only I could make it happen! I’m ready to fly there and not even come back!” - she said.
Despite the fact that one of the most cherished desires The woman's dream never came true, she does not lose optimism. At 80 years old, Tereshkova looks stunning and is full of energy. According to the astronaut, she receives large number messages from fans who wish her happiness and health.
“Respect and kindness of people are the feelings that I have been experiencing after the flight for more than 50 years. I also receive a huge number of letters. In every letter there is joy - they invite you to visit, they got an apartment, the child recovered. Or gratitude - for the fact that I was able to help someone buy medicine, overcome some difficulties, troubles... This also gives me strength,” shares Valentina Vladimirovna.
// Photo: Still from the Channel One film “I Always Look at the Stars”
The beloved grandmother is also supported by her grandchildren - 21-year-old Alexey and 12-year-old Andrey. They call loved one by name only. The eldest heir of Valentina Vladimirovna’s daughter served in the army and receives higher education at Moscow State University. As for Alexey, he is still in school. Tereshkova says that he is interested in playing the violin.
“If my grandmother sets a goal, she definitely achieves it. I believe that this is a very useful character trait... Not every woman is capable of making a solo flight into space,” says Alexey, Valentina Vladimirovna’s grandson.
// Photo: Still from the Channel One film “I Always Look at the Stars”
IN present moment Valentina Tereshkova works as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Federal Structure and Issues local government in the State Duma. Filmed about what the legendary female astronaut is doing now documentary Channel One “I always look at the stars.”
Valentina Tereshkova at a meeting with Vladimir Putin// Photo: Kremlin.ruBased on materials from the TV channel “Culture”, « Komsomolskaya Pravda» , RIA Novosti and Channel One.
Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman to go into space. To this day, she remains the only woman in the world to go on a space flight alone, without assistants or partners. She also became the first woman in Russia to be awarded the rank of major general. It was in this rank that Tereshkova retired in 1997, at the age of sixty. Valentina Tereshkova forever inscribed her name in the history of the Soviet Union, Russia and the whole world.
Childhood and youth
The biography of this woman begins in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Yaroslavl region. Valentina's parents came from Belarusian peasants. The mother of the future space explorer worked at a textile factory, and her father was a tractor driver. He took part in battles during Soviet-Finnish war and died.
Young Tereshkova attended the Yaroslavl school, received high marks, and also learned to play the dombra (the girl had a good ear for music). Having completed the basic seven-year school education, she decided to help her mother support the family and got a job as a bracelet maker at the Yaroslavl Tire Factory. However, the purposeful girl did not intend to give up education: she combined work with studying at evening school.
Next stage Valentina Vladimirovna’s life also did not foretell the heights that she was to achieve. So, she studied in absentia at a technical school for light industry and worked for seven years as a weaver at a nearby plant called “Red Perekop.” At this time, Tereshkova began to get involved in parachuting. She enjoyed going to the local flying club and fearlessly jumped from great heights.
Cosmonautics
Valentina's new hobby sealed her fate. By a happy coincidence, just at that time, a Soviet scientist was inspired by the idea of sending a woman into space. The idea was received favorably, and at the beginning of 1962, the search began for that representative of the fair sex who was to receive the proud title of “cosmonaut”. The criteria were as follows: a parachutist under the age of 30, weighing up to 70 kg, height up to 170 cm.
Soviet women There were surprisingly many people wanting to go into space. Workers in the Soviet space industry were looking for the ideal candidate from hundreds of candidates. As a result of a tough selection, five “finalists” were identified: Irina Solovyova, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Zhanna Yorkina, Valentina Ponomareva and Valentina Tereshkova.
The girls were officially called up to military service, received the rank of private and began to train hard. Initially, Tereshkova completed the training program with the rank of cosmonaut student of the second detachment, but already in 1962, having successfully passed the exams, she became a cosmonaut of the first detachment of the first department.
The training included techniques to develop the body’s resistance to the peculiarities space flight. For example, girls learned to move in zero gravity, tested the body’s resources in a thermal chamber and a sound chamber, performed parachute training, and mastered the use of a spacesuit. The training in a soundproof chamber (a room isolated from external sounds) lasted for 10 days. Each of the five contenders for the role of the first female cosmonaut spent 10 days in the illusion of complete silence and loneliness.
When choosing the applicant who was to make the planned flight, the following were taken into account:
- completion of training, level of practical training, knowledge of theory, results of medical examinations;
- origin (that Valentina Vladimirovna came from a simple working family, who lost her breadwinner during the war, played into her hands);
- ability to lead social activities, glorifying the Communist Party.
If the other candidates were not inferior to Tereshkova in the first two points, then she had no equal in public speaking skills. Valentina Vladimirovna easily communicated with journalists and other people, gave laconic and natural answers to questions, and did not forget to add a few words about the greatness of the Communist Party. She was eventually chosen as the leading candidate to fly into space. Irina Solovyova received the status of backup cosmonaut, and Valentina Ponomareva was appointed as a reserve candidate.
Flight into space
The first woman went into space on June 16, 1963. The flight lasted 3 days. Valentina Tereshkova went into space on the Vostok-6 spacecraft, which took off from Baikonur (not from the site from which it launched, but from a duplicate one). How the first female cosmonaut carried out the launch, what reports she gave, received highly appreciated specialists. They assured that Tereshkova performed the launch better than experienced male cosmonauts.
Soon after the launch, Tereshkova’s health worsened; she moved little, did not eat, and sluggishly negotiated with ground stations. Nevertheless, she survived for three days, 48 revolutions around the Earth, and regularly kept a logbook throughout the flight.
Some time before the expected landing, the first female astronaut had problems with the equipment of the spacecraft. Due to improper installation of control wires, Valentina Tereshkova did not orient the ship manually. However, Cosmos 6 was nevertheless oriented and landed on the Earth’s surface thanks to the use of automatic mode, in which such a problem did not arise.
Upon completion of the flight (the ship arrived at Altai region) Valentina Vladimirovna distributed food from her diet local residents, and she herself ate the traditional food of these places. It's like feeling unwell Tereshkova, as well as problems with the orientation of the ship, upset Sergei Korolev. He even promised not to let any more women into space until his death. The next similar flight occurred long after the gifted engineer passed away.
Subsequent career
Since then, Valentina Tereshkova has no longer flown into space. She became an astronaut instructor, worked at the Cosmonaut Training Center as a senior researcher, even graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, becoming a professor and writing over five dozen scientific papers. Valentina Vladimirovna stated that she was ready (for a one-way flight).
Tereshkova continues to be involved in politics. During the Soviet Union, she was a member of the CPSU, and in the 2000s she was elected as a deputy. regional Duma native Yaroslavl region from the party " United Russia" She also took part in the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympic Games 2014, became president charitable foundation“Memory of Generations” contributed to the opening of the university and a number of other institutions in Yaroslavl.
Personal life
The first husband of the first female cosmonaut was cosmonaut Adriyan Nikolaev. The wedding ceremony took place in 1963, and the guests of this ceremony can be seen in the photo. The family broke up in 1982, when the daughter of Adriyan and Valentina, Elena Tereshkova, turned 18 years old. Subsequently, Tereshkova admitted that among close people her husband showed himself to be a despot, which is why their relationship came to naught.
Valentina Vladimirovna’s second husband was Major General of the Medical Service Yuliy Shaposhnikov. No children were born in this marriage. But Elena Tereshkova gave her mother grandchildren Alexei Mayorov and Andrei Rodionov. It is noteworthy that both of Elena’s husbands turned out to be pilots. The only heir of Valentina Tereshkova works at the CITO as an orthopedic surgeon.
Valentina Vladimirovna celebrated her 80th birthday on March 6, 2017. She is a retired major general, spends a lot of time with her family, and also continues to study political career. So, in 2016, during the next parliamentary elections, Tereshkova was elected as a deputy State Duma. The first female cosmonaut loves her native region very much and strives to help Yaroslavl orphanage, home school, engage in improvement of the city and help open new educational, industrial, and infrastructure institutions in it.
Despite retirement age, Valentina Tereshkova can boast good health. In 2004 she had complex operation on the heart, because otherwise she would have suffered a heart attack. From then to serious problems There were no reports regarding Valentina Vladimirovna’s health, but based on her active work activity, we can conclude that they are absent.
- To increase the motivation of the five girls who were contenders for the role of the first female cosmonaut, Sergei Korolev promised that all of them, sooner or later, would fly into space. In reality this did not happen.
- Initially, it was planned to simultaneously send two women to different spaceships, however, in 1963 such a plan was abandoned. Two days before Valentina Tereshkova’s flight, Valery Bykovsky went into space on the Vostok-5 spacecraft. He spent 5 days outside our planet. This is a single flight record that still stands to this day.
- Newsreel footage shown to the Soviet people and the whole world, were staged. They were re-shot a day after Valentina Vladimirovna’s actual arrival on Earth, since in the first hours after her return she felt very unwell and was hospitalized.
The first female astronaut has something to hide. This is why we will never see a tell-all book published Valentina Vladimirovna about myself. It's a pity. If she had written at least half of the whole truth, her memoirs could have become a worldwide bestseller.
It’s not just about the sensational marriage with Nikolaev and not only about their divorce. When famous person most of life is hiding from journalists, you can’t help but think: why? After all, Tereshkova also had a happy, in her words, marriage that lasted 20 years; her daughter became a doctor, gave birth to two grandchildren... In the end, the first female astronaut will forever remain the first, and this is also a kind of happiness. However, a moratorium on questions about Valentina Vladimirovna was established by her daughter Elena and former (deceased) husband: Cosmonaut No. 3 Andriyan Nikolaev.
They once talked with pleasure about the famous countrywoman, perhaps only in her native Yaroslavl region. Now there are almost no witnesses left to Tereshkova’s non-star life. All the more valuable are the memories of her friends and relatives.
Born on the stove
Finding the village of Maslennikovo, where Valentina Tereshkova was born 81 years ago, was not easy. We went to see her grandmother’s house and got stuck. Yes, and the hut, where is Vladimir Aksenovich And Elena Fedorovna Tereshkova a second daughter, Valya, was born, but did not survive. Even the Cosmos Museum in the village of Nikulskoye was closed: apparently, the building was erected hastily, and it quickly fell into disrepair. Then it was most likely restored. But from March 1 to June 15 this year, the museum is again under lock and key: re-exposition. Perhaps, on the day of the 55th anniversary of the flight, a heroine is expected here.
“Valentina’s father died in the Finnish war when she was 2 years old, but she remembers well how he put her on a horse,” said the former director of the museum Galina Agrafonova.— Vladimir Aksenovich was very handsome, and Valya was called daddy’s daughter. She and paternal grandmother Matryona Titovna She loved her very much and often came to see her from Yaroslavl.
Valentina Tereshkova (center) among her friends. 1956 Photo: RIA Novosti
They said that Valya was stubborn as a girl. I wasn’t afraid to go into the forest alone, I knew all the mushroom and berry places. Once, already in Moscow, Valentina Vladimirovna admitted that Maslennikovo is called that because there is a lot of butter around. She was perky and brave. At the age of 7, she asked to be put on a horse and fed the animal from her palm. She jumped into the pond not only like a soldier, but also upside down, which aroused the envy of the boys. Later in Yaroslavl I did the same from the Perekopsky Bridge. And there are 15 meters to the water...
“In the summer we all gathered at my grandmother’s in Maslennikov,” she recalled cousin Tereshkova Tamara Kabanova, lived at Chebokovo station. - Valya usually came from Yaroslavl with older sister Lyusya and their brother Volodya visited rarely. What were they playing? Now I don’t even remember. There was nothing then, not even dolls. And when they grew up, they helped their grandmother: clean up the cattle, in the garden. When Valya was in school, she had a camera, she loved to take pictures... Many years later, she and I went to her grandmother’s cemetery. There was only little time for conversation: a bunch of bosses always came with her. In general, her cousins often contacted her.
The Tereshkovs had three children. The youngest, Volodya, was born when his father was no longer alive. Vladimir Aksenovich, a tank driver, was called up for service in 1939, and died the same year. Elena Fedorovna was left alone and never married again.The story of how Tereshkova’s parents met is amazing. Volodya came to the Prokladovo farm to get married. But the girl didn’t like that he was from the peasants, his clothes were poor, and she refused him. And the girlfriend standing next to me Lena Kruglova admitted: “Well, in vain, I would gladly marry him.” The groom was not at a loss and immediately proposed to his girlfriend.
After the wedding, his mother Matryona Titovna invited the young couple to separate. We bought an old house: Valentina was born there. On the stove. Having received the baby, the midwife wrapped the future cosmonaut in a sheepskin coat.
“There were no kindergartens then,” said Galina Agrafonova. — Valya’s mother worked on a collective farm: as a milkmaid on a farm. Accurate, principled. I didn't like gossip. The children helped with the housework. It even seems to me that Valya went to school not at the age of 7, but at 8: she babysat for a year with Volodya.
Athletes-paratroopers Valentina Tereshkova and V. Girs at the Yaroslavl airfield, 1959 pic.twitter.com/eqEJ95jJF7
— History in Photos (@RussiainPhotos) June 16, 2016
Mother did not allow me to study after school
Elena Fedorovna had a hard time. After the war, she and her children went to Yaroslavl to visit their mother. They lived poorly. In a yellowed photograph in the school museum, Tereshkova is without a white apron. For many years she wore a faded old twill dress. The class teacher then wrote in the description: “The family is financially poorly secure, they live in a small room in a private house, the only furniture is a bed, a table, a few chairs.”
“The guys carried potatoes, bread, and milk in bottles in handkerchiefs,” the former director of school No. 32, where Tereshkova studied, picked up the conversation. Maya Nyushina. - More prosperous parents gave eggs. The delicacy was duran, or cake. Sunflower, hemp. If it's linen, then it's a blessing! The ink was poured into a bottle, the pen was treasured like the apple of one's eye. Nevertheless, Valya studied well. I got straight A's in physics, I knew math pretty well, and I really loved history. At first there were problems with the Russian, but then everything worked out.
“Modest, but demanding,” noted class teacher Tamara Klimova and invited the guys to choose Valya as headman. Tereshkova played the dombra in the school orchestra, loved to sing and enjoyed skiing. And soon he firmly entered her life parachuting.Valya Shashkova from a parallel class she invited me to join the section, but then she quit, and Tereshkova got carried away.
However, Valentina did not think about becoming a professional athlete. Since childhood I dreamed of being... a train driver. She voraciously read books about Polzunov and after 7th grade wanted to enter the railway technical school. Mom didn't allow it. The family continued to live hard: Valya had to go to work.
Pilot-cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (4th from right) among the skydivers. 1961 Photo: RIA Novosti
— Valentina was a bracelet in women's brigade 5 assembly shop,” recalled the site foreman at the Yaroslavl tire plant Larisa Sidyakina.— I made wheel frames for Belarus tractors. The work is very hard, but they paid more than at other enterprises, and they got a job here through great connections.
It was necessary to get up before dawn. The trams were running poorly, there were a lot of people... Less than a year later, Valya’s sister and mother persuaded Valya to move to the Krasny Perekop industrial textile factory, where they worked themselves. Closer to home. In addition, it was time to think about the future: after graduating from evening school, Tereshkova entered a textile technical school.
Ribbon worker, roving worker, greaser... Before becoming the secretary of the Komsomol organization, Valentina experienced all the hardships of working at the plant.
“Under her, Komsomol life was simply in full swing,” the chief power engineer at Krasny Perekop shared his memories. Vyacheslav Romanov.“The entire committee was overwhelmed with parachutes: she headed the section... They didn’t live well: from paycheck to paycheck. But we came to them for tea as if it were our own home. Valya was a good cook. We didn’t consider ourselves poor then. We tried to dress fashionably and didn’t go hungry. Before 1967, absolutely everything was available in stores and cheap. Valya received 120-130 rubles as a secretary, and a good lunch in the canteen cost a maximum of three rubles. Bread is free. At that time, little alcohol was consumed. Drank tea dry wine, very rarely - vodka. Her brother Volodya drank a little more...
Pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union Valentina Tereshkova with her mother Elena Fedorovna Tereshkova (second from right). 1963 Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov
According to the chief power engineer, Tereshkova wanted to throw in her lot with the plant, and even entered the correspondence textile institute... But very soon her life changed dramatically. She still jumped with a parachute and was injured. She was silent about the fact that she got into the cosmonaut corps. And shortly before the flight, she arrived home and opened up with someone: “Perhaps you will hear about me soon.”
“They called my mother to the village council and asked where Vladimir Aksenovich served and how he died,” said my cousin.
A little over a month later, on June 16, 1963, the whole world learned about the flight of the first female cosmonaut. And Yaroslavl that day simply stood on ears.
“Hearing the message, I immediately ran after Elena Fedorovna: “Go quickly, Valya has flown!” They didn’t have a TV,” recalled the Tereshkovs’ neighbor Nadezhda Isaeva. - And she cried: “Lord, I wouldn’t have crashed...”
Did Khrushchev marry the cosmonauts?
Whether she wanted it or not, after the flight Valentina became a completely different person. Circumstances required it. Soon after the flight I arrived in Yaroslavl in my car. A rally was organized at the plant. And all the people were waiting at the gate when famous woman will go back. And Tereshkova was escorted to the workshop and taken out the back door to the pier to the boat...
Then there was a meeting with fellow countrymen at the stadium. And again, people were waiting for the 26-year-old heroine, getting ready, dressing up. But they came and saw nothing.
“Later we met with her,” Romanov shared. “But she could no longer be herself.” Maintained a different image. All the time with her retinue, who did not let her go for a minute. Secretaries of regional committees and city committees wanted to be nearby. She seemed to ask, as before, “How are you?” But... in a different tone. The speech was dominated by high phrases. And we only learned about her life from newspapers.
She, a simple Yaroslavl weaver, became the first. And other women from the cosmonaut corps, naturally, did not like this. Galina Agrafonova, who met some of them, recalled that Irina Solovyova, And Valentina Ponomareva were, to put it mildly, unhappy...“Tatyana Morozycheva should have taken Valentina’s place,” Maya Nyushina confessed. - World champion, medals - up to the floor. They were best friends, they trained together, but Tatyana had much more jumps: 3.5 thousand...
However, Morozycheva just got married, became pregnant, and was expelled from the detachment. There were rumors that she then became an alcoholic and sold all her medals.
The press wrote a lot about Tereshkova and her understudies. Everything secret someday becomes clear. However, no one, except close people, knows for certain the history of Valentina Vladimirovna’s first marriage and divorce.
How much has it been said that he married two cosmonauts? Khrushchev, however, no matter who we talked to, everyone convinced us that Tereshkova could not have gotten married by force. The third woman astronaut Elena Kondakova summarized: “The members of the first detachment were such privileged people that Nikita Sergeevich himself listened to them. And if Valentina Vladimirovna had said “no,” no CPSU Central Committee could have forced her.”Yaroslavl residents who knew Tereshkova before the flight recalled: she seemed to have some kind of fiancé before Nikolaev... But who is he, where is he?.. One newspaper mentioned the name Robert Silina, with whom Valentina studied at the flying club and whom she was supposed to marry. However, no one at home admitted that they knew this man.
“Close relationships were rare then,” Romanov said. - Although, of course, Tereshkova was looked after. He was friends with Valentin Aristov. They went to the cinema, to the theater, walked in the evenings, probably kissed. And they didn’t hide their relationship.
“Nikolaev also had a fiancée in Chuvashia, and his mother wanted him to marry her,” Nyushina revealed the secret. - So what now? He also had a girlfriend in Smolensk, where he served. They even told me there that Tereshkova stole her fiancé.
In a word, with regard to Tereshkova’s personal life in the last half century, there are more questions than answers.
Marriage of pilot-cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Andriyan Nikolaev. 1963 Photo: RIA Novosti / Valery Shustov
“In the eighties they wrote that Valentina was lying on a dusty sofa and sipping Armenian cognac,” Agrafonova recalled. “Her assistant complained: that’s why we are afraid to say something again.” When she came here, we were instructed: for God’s sake, don’t ask about her personal life.
They also gossiped about the daughter of Tereshkova and Nikolaev. They said that the girl was born premature and deaf. Fortunately, everything was fine, except that Lena suffered from strabismus as a child. They put glasses on her, covering her good eye, so that the other one would be corrected, and the problem would be solved. She graduated from high school and medical school with honors.
By the way, Andrian Nikolaev, who refused to talk about ex-wife, admitted that he had no doubts about his daughter’s health. He was so confident in himself. Even at over 70 he was still vigorous, strong man. But... There was a feeling that she and Tereshkova had entered into a parity agreement on non-disclosure of the facts of their family life. And, if this is so, you should respect a man who has not stooped to “bed memories.” Although, without a doubt, he would make decent money from his memoirs.
“I talked a lot with Nikolaev,” said Agrafonova. - This is a very interesting, rich person inside. It was easy with him. Although Valentina Vladimirovna complained that Andriyan’s relatives were tormented: “Why are all our people staying at the hotel, and some of him are leaving, others are coming. He is sitting in the corridor, writing something on his knee. And my relatives are sleeping in the office.” In Zvezdny they had a four-room apartment, but it was small. In the living room on both sides bookcases, a table and a rack with gifts, a study for two, two small bedrooms. The daughter slept with her grandmother.
Valentina Nikolaeva-Tereshkova's mother Elena Fedorovna with her granddaughter Elena. 1964 Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov
If people disagree, then there is a reason for it. This is what women who knew Tereshkova said. A few years later, during the operation, Valentina Vladimirovna met the head of CITO Yuli Shaposhnikov. They said that he abandoned his previous family because of her. Despite the fact that he was “modest and a hard worker,” as they said about him. And Valentina Vladimirovna always spoke warmly about her second husband (now also deceased).
“Lobsters? No problem!"
Unfortunately, the first female cosmonaut had almost no truly close people left. Dearly beloved younger brother Volodya, who worked as a cameraman in Zvezdny, died a long time ago. Mom left even earlier. Valentina Vladimirovna searched for a very long time for the grave of her father, who died on Karelian Isthmus. Thanks to one of the marshals of the Ministry of Defense, who allocated funds to fly over the area, I found a huge mass grave overgrown with forest. She erected a monument and visits there regularly.
Now Tereshkova has a much smaller retinue. But she is as hardworking as ever. Those who visited her once school teachers they said: she got up at 6 in the morning, cooked millet porridge, fed everyone... She did a lot for Yaroslavl, helps people. One day, school principal Maya Nyushina became seriously ill and needed surgery. Thanks to Valentina Vladimirovna, it was done in Moscow for free.
Valentina Tereshkova with her brother Vladimir. 1971 Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov
Cosmonaut Kondakova told how on the second day after the crew landed (Elena flew with Polyakov And Viktorenko) Tereshkova came: “Guys, what would you like?”
“We were in rehabilitation, and my husband had already bought everything that was possible.” But Tereshkova couldn’t leave it like that: “You’ve been in space for a long time, you need fresh fruits and vegetables.” And then Valera half-jokingly said: “Valentina Vladimirovna, we would like some lobsters...” She: “Valera, no problem!” So what do you think? A couple of days later she brought fresh raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, lobsters, and baked fresh bread herself. Anyone else would have ignored it, but she showed such concern...
The governments of the USSR and Russia never ignored the first female cosmonaut. Tereshkova has enormous connections, thanks to which, they say, she became a general at the last moment before retiring. For many years - at the state and social work, State Duma deputy of the 6th and 7th convocations. But... To be honest, not much is known about this side of her life...
Yaroslavl - st. Chebokovo—With. Nikulskoye - Moscow.
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