Question by aidmenot: Was Valentina Tereshkova really the first woman in space?
All books I have seen say that she was, but I recently acquired a copy of “The great book of mysteries but true: mysterious and bizaree people”, and it mentions a supposed (details of why I put “supposed” to follow) Russian space probe launched on 17th February 1961 (seemingly even before Yuri Gagarin’s!) in which a group of cosmonauts were launched, in which tracking stations in Italy, Sweden and West Germany picked up the voice (presumably in Russian) of a woman saying “if we do not get out of here, the world will never hear about it”. The supposed bit comes in from two other books I have that say that the US launched “Explorer 20” on that exact date … one of which says that “return of the re-entry capsule not attempted due to instrument failure”. Anyone able to fill me in with any more details of either the US mission of 17th February 1961, or an alleged Soviet one of the same date? Details appreciated.
Answers and Views:
Answer by mary gwyndz p
YES!!!!!!!based on what you have read, the books stated it clearly ………..
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John_UG says
Yes, Valentina was the first woman in space. If you want to know more about Valentina, read this
Peter T says
I think the story to which you are referring is one of many variants that are based on claims made by Italian brothers Achille and Gian Battista Judica-Cordiglia. They were into amateur radio and built a tracking station of their own to collect signals from spacecraft called Torre Bert. They also helped other amateur radio enthusiants build similar stations around the world to form a network called Zeus. (Though it only lasted for a year.)
The original story of the lost cosmonauts appeared in an Italian newspaper in 1965 and was based on a recording said to have been picked up in November 1963. The date in the story was later changed to May 1961.
The link below has quite a discussion about the Judica-Cordiglia brothers and their observatory and has links to other references and websites. It's summary is that there is no evidence to back the brother's claims, in particular no-one from the Soviet program has come forward with corroborating information since the end of the Cold War. Many other previously hidden or poorly understood facets of the Soviet space program have however, making it hard to believe that people in the know wouldn't come forward about this one were it true. Assuming its falsehood then Valentina Tereshkova remains the first woman in space.
Navinchandra Bhogila says
yes please.
Maxim G says
All is possible. Anyway Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman who successfully was in space.
It is too much books written about secrets is a business, I do not trust them. But the history is even more false. We do not learn the truth never.
TahnayaJADE says
i think from your information that its true