Valentina Tereshkova

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Born March 6, 1937, Maslennikovo, Russia, U.S.S.R,  Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova.  Soviet cosmonaut, the first woman to travel into space. On June 16, 1963, she was launched in the spacecraft Vostok 6, which completed 48 orbits in 71 hours. In space at the same time was Valery F. Bykovsky, who had been launched two days earlier in Vostok 5; both landed on June 19.
 
Although she had no pilot training, Tereshkova was an accomplished amateur parachutist and on this basis was accepted for the cosmonaut program when she volunteered in 1961. She left the program just after her flight, and on November 3, 1963, she was married to Andriyan G. Nikolayev, another cosmonaut. From 1966 until 1991 she was an active member in the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet. She directed the Soviet Women's Committee in 1968, and from 1974 to 1991 she served as a member of the Supreme Soviet Presidium. In 2008 she became the deputy chair of the parliament of Yaroslavl province as a member of the United Russia party. Tereshkova was named a Hero of the Soviet Union and was twice awarded the Order of Lenin.

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May 27

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Bismarck sunk by Royal Navy, 1941

On May 27, 1941, the British navy sinks the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic near France. The German death toll was more than 2,000. On…

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