Svetlana SavitskayaBorn 8 Aug 1948.Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya is a Russian cosmonaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman to walk in space (1984), and the first woman to make two trips into space. Before her, a Russian cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, had been the first woman in space (1963). Savitskaya became the second woman in space (19 Aug 1982) on the Soyuz T7 spacecraft flight to the Salyut 7 space station. Her second flight, also to the space station, was on the Soyuz T12 spacecraft. It was during this mission that she made her three-hour space walk (25 Jul 1984), making welding experiments. Earlier in her life, she had been an aviator, set 18 women's world records, and won a world aerobatics championship (1970). From 1976, she was a test pilot, and joined the Russian space program in 1980.« |
