Irina Solovyova facts for kids

Irina Solovyova was born on September 6, 1937. She was a Soviet cosmonaut, which means she was trained to travel into space. Irina was active from 1962 to 1969. She was born in Kireyevsk, a town in Tula, Russia. Irina is famous for being one of only five women chosen to join the Soviet Union's special all-female space team.

Irina Solovyova became well-known during the Cold War. This was a time when the Soviet Union and the United States were competing in many areas, including space exploration. In 1961, a man named Nikolai Kamanin had an idea to send the first woman into space. He convinced Sergey Korolev, a top Soviet rocket engineer, to consider it. About six months later, they agreed to find five female cosmonauts. More than 800 women applied for this amazing chance. Only 58 were seriously considered. After that, 23 women, including Irina Solovyova, were chosen for special medical tests in Moscow. Irina was 24 years old when Soviet leaders offered her a spot on the space team.

Becoming a Cosmonaut

When Irina accepted the offer, she began her training in Star City. This place in the Soviet Union has been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center since the 1960s. The five women chosen to train in Star City were Irina Solovyova, Zhanna Yorkina, Tatyana Kuzenetsova, Valentina Ponomareva, and Valentina Tereshkova.

Valentina Tereshkova's Flight

Eventually, Valentina Tereshkova was chosen to be the first woman to fly into space. Irina Solovyova became her backup. Valentina Tereshkova spent three days in space aboard a spacecraft called Vostok 6. She then successfully parachuted back to Earth. Valentina Tereshkova received the Order of Lenin and Hero of the Soviet Union awards. These were the highest honors in the Soviet Union. Even though Irina Solovyova was mainly a backup, she played a very important part in the beginning of women exploring space.

Irina's Background

Before she was chosen for the space team, Irina Solovyova was an engineer with a science degree. She graduated from the Sverdlovsk Polytechnic Institute. Irina was also a member of the national skydiving team. Her fiancé at the time, Sergey Kiselev, was a skydiving instructor.

Irina Solovyova was also considered to be the first woman to walk in space. However, Svetlana Savitskaya was chosen for that historic spacewalk instead. Before becoming a cosmonaut, Irina was a world champion parachutist for the Soviet Union. She was also given the Belarusian Order For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces, 3rd class. Irina Solovyova is married to Sergei A. Kiselyov. They have two children named Aleksei and Yelena.

Education and Training

Irina Solovyova was a trained civilian cosmonaut. She also became a retired Colonel in the Soviet Air Force.

• 1959: Graduated from Sverdlovsk Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering.
• 1967: Graduated from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, Monino.
• 1980: Earned a degree in psychological sciences.

She completed her cosmonaut training from April 1962 to November 29, 1962. She trained alongside Kuznetsova and Tereshkova. In February 1988, she also joined an all-female expedition to Antarctica.

Choosing Female Cosmonauts

In January 1962, a group called DOSAAF (a Russian volunteer society) sent a list of 58 female candidates. These women were pilots and parachutists. Forty of them were to be interviewed for training at the TsPK. This training would prepare them for the Flight: Vostok 6. Before Irina Solovyova was contacted, she was a 24-year-old engineer in Ural. She had a science degree and was part of a skydiving team.

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin and his team interviewed 23 of the 58 female candidates. He was looking for young, healthy women who had at least five to six months of flight and parachute training. Since there were not many female pilots in the Soviet Union, they also looked for women who were active sport parachutists.

The First Female Cosmonaut Group

A special group was chosen for the Vostok 6 space program. They had to meet certain requirements:

• Under 30 years old
• Under 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall
• Under 70 kg (154 lb) in weight

The five Soviet women selected on February 16, 1962, were Kuznetsova, Ponomaryova, Solovyova, Tereshkova, and Yorkina. They started their training a month later. However, the idea of a woman flying in space did not have much support from Chief Designer Korolev or Kamanin's military leaders.

Intense Training

The five female cosmonauts went through a full training program. This included:

• Flights that created a feeling of weightlessness
• Many parachute jumps
• Tests where they were isolated to see how they handled being alone
• Centrifuge tests, which spin you around to prepare for G-forces
• Studying rocket theory and how spacecraft work

The women completed 120 parachute jumps. They also received pilot training in MiG-15UTI jet planes.

In May 1962, a Soviet group, including cosmonaut Gherman Titov and Kamanin, visited Washington, D.C. They met American astronaut John Glenn. They learned about the Mercury 13, a private program where 13 American women were chosen by NASA. These female pilots had passed the astronaut physical tests and wanted to be trained as Mercury astronauts. Kamanin learned that the first American woman might make a three-orbit flight by the end of 1962. Seeing this competition, Kamanin decided to speed up the first flight of a Soviet woman. At the start of the training, Kamanin thought Irina Solovyova was the most likely to be the first woman in space.

Future Space Plans

Irina Solovyova was also part of plans for another space mission in 1965. Kamanin suggested new missions for the Voskhod system. Ponomaryova and Solovyova were proposed for an all-female spacewalk mission. Ponomaryova would be the pilot, and Solovyova would be the one to walk in space. The female cosmonauts were told about this plan. However, Kamanin warned them that there might be strong opposition. He was right. The U.S. Gemini program had just announced a mission that would last 7 to 8 days. To try and keep their lead in spaceflight, the Soviets changed their schedule. Because of this, the Ponomaryova-Solovyova mission never happened.

See also

In Spanish: Irina Solovyova para niños