Vostok 6

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

09:29:52

Sunday June 16, 1963

Mission Details

Launch Notes

First flight of a woman in space. Last crewed flight of the Vostok spacecraft. The mission was launched in pair with Vostok 5, a radio communication was established between the two vessels.

Vostok 6

Wiki

The spacecraft was launched on June 16, 1963. While Vostok 5 had been delayed by technical problems, Vostok 6's launch proceeded with no difficulties. Data collected during the mission provided better understanding of the female body's reaction to spaceflight. Like other cosmonauts on Vostok missions, Tereshkova maintained a flight log, took photographs, and manually oriented the spacecraft. Her photographs of the horizon from space were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere. The mission, a joint flight with Vostok 5, was originally conceived as being a joint mission with two Vostoks each carrying a female cosmonaut, but this changed as the Vostok program experienced cutbacks as a precursor to the retooling of the program into the Voskhod program. Vostok 6 was the last flight of a Vostok 3KA spacecraft.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

4,713 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Vostok

Active 1958 to 1964

OKB-1 logo

Manufacturer

OKB-1

Rocket

Height: 38.36m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 4,730 kg

GTO: 0 kg

Liftoff Thrust

4,570 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 2.58m

Height: 6.74m

Stages

3

Strap-ons

4

Launch Site

Site 1/5

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

23 hr 32 min

Stats

Vostok


24th

Mission

2nd

Mission of 1963

OKB-1


64th

Mission

13th

Mission of 1963

1963


32nd

Orbital launch attempt