List of women astronauts

In 1963 Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on her Vostok 6 flight of 48 orbits, and is the only woman to fly solo in space.

The following is a list of women who have traveled into space, sorted by date of first flight. This list includes Russian cosmonauts, who were the first women in outer space. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go to space in 1963, very early in crewed space exploration, and it would be almost twenty years before another flew (Svetlana Savitskaya).

By the end of the 1980s, women in space had become more common. By 2019, roughly 12% of all the space travelers were women. As of April 2022, 73 women had completed spaceflights.

History[edit]

As of May 2023, of the 634 total space travelers (FAI),^[1] 73 have been women. There have been one each from France, Italy, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom; two each from Canada, China, and Japan; six from the Soviet Union/Russia; and 56 from the United States.^[2] The time between the first male and first female astronauts varied widely by country. The first astronauts originally from Britain, South Korea, and Iran were women, while there was a two-year gap in Russia from the first man in space on Vostok 1 to the first woman in space on Vostok 6. The time between the first American man and first American woman in space was 22 years between Freedom 7 and STS-7, respectively. For China, this interval was almost eight and a half years between the Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 9 space missions,^[3] and for Italy, there was approximately twelve years between the STS-46 and Expedition 42 spaceflights.

A span of 19 years separated the first two women in space. They were cosmonauts on the Vostok 6 and Soyuz T-7 missions. Though the Soviet Union sent the first two women into space, only six of the women in space have been Russian or Soviet citizens. However, British, French, Italian, dual-citizen Iranian-American and South Korean women have all flown as part of the Soviet and Russian space programs. Similarly, women from Canada, Japan, and America have all flown under the US space program. A span of one year separated the first and second American women in space,^[4] as well as the first and second Chinese women in space, taking place on consecutive missions, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10.^[5]

Spacefarers with current and completed spaceflights[edit]

#	Image	Name Birth date	Country	Comment	Missions (launch date)
1		Valentina Tereshkova Mar. 6, 1937	Soviet Union	First woman in space. Only woman to make a solo spaceflight.	Vostok 6 (Jun. 16, 1963)[6]
2		Svetlana Savitskaya Aug. 8, 1948	Soviet Union	First woman to fly on a space station (Salyut 7, 1982). First woman to perform a spacewalk (Jul. 25, 1984). First woman to make two spaceflights.	Soyuz T-5 (Jul. 19, 1982) Soyuz T-12 (Jul. 17, 1984)
3		Sally Ride May 26, 1951 died Jul. 23, 2012	United States	First American woman in space.	STS-7 (Jun. 18, 1983) STS-41-G (Oct. 5, 1984)
4		Judith Resnik Apr. 5, 1949 died Jan. 28, 1986	United States	Fourth woman in space, second American woman in space. First Jewish woman in space. Died in the Challenger disaster.	STS-41-D (Aug. 30, 1984) STS-51-L (Jan. 28, 1986)
5		Kathryn D. Sullivan Oct. 3, 1951	United States	Second woman to perform a spacewalk. (Oct. 11, 1984)	STS-41-G (Oct. 5, 1984) STS-31 (Apr. 24, 1990) STS-45 (Mar. 24, 1992)
6		Anna Lee Fisher Aug. 24, 1949	United States	First mother in space.[7]	STS-51-A (Nov. 8, 1984)
7		Margaret Rhea Seddon Nov. 8, 1947	United States		STS-51-D (Apr. 12, 1985) STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991) STS-58 (Oct. 18, 1993)
8		Shannon Lucid Jan. 14, 1943	United States	First American woman to fly on a space station (Mir, 1996). First Chinese-born woman in space. First woman to make a third, a fourth and a fifth spaceflight.	STS-51-G (Jun. 17, 1985) STS-34 (Oct. 18, 1989) STS-43 (Aug. 2, 1991) STS-58 (Oct. 18, 1993) STS-76/79 (Mar. 22, 1996)
9		Bonnie J. Dunbar Mar. 3, 1949	United States		STS-61-A (Oct. 30, 1985) STS-32 (Jan. 9, 1990) STS-50 (Jun. 25, 1992) STS-71 (Jun. 27, 1995) STS-89 (Jan. 22, 1998)
10		Mary L. Cleave Feb. 5, 1947	United States		STS-61-B (Nov. 26, 1985) STS-30 (May 4, 1989)
11		Ellen S. Baker Apr. 27, 1953	United States		STS-34 (Oct. 18, 1989) STS-50 (Jun. 25, 1992) STS-71 (Jun. 27, 1995)
12		Kathryn C. Thornton Aug. 17, 1952	United States	Third woman to walk in space. First woman to make multiple EVAs (May 14–15, 1992, Dec. 6, 1993, Dec. 8, 1993)	STS-33 (Nov. 22, 1989) STS-49 (May 7, 1992) STS-61 (Dec. 2, 1993) STS-73 (Oct. 20, 1995)
13		Marsha Ivins Apr. 15, 1951	United States		STS-32 (Jan. 9, 1990) STS-46 (Jul. 31, 1992) STS-62 (Mar. 4, 1994) STS-81 (Jan. 12, 1997) STS-98 (Feb. 7, 2001)
14		Linda M. Godwin Jul. 2, 1952	United States	Fourth woman to walk in space (March 27, 1996, Dec. 10, 2001)	STS-37 (Apr. 5, 1991) STS-59 (Apr. 9, 1994) STS-76 (Mar. 22, 1996) STS-108 (Dec. 5, 2001)
15		Helen Sharman May 30, 1963	United Kingdom	First British citizen in space. Second woman to fly on a space station (Mir, 1991).	Soyuz TM-12/TM-11 (May 18, 1991)
16		Tamara E. Jernigan May 7, 1959	United States	Fifth woman to walk in space (May 30, 1999)	STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991) STS-52 (Oct. 22, 1992) STS-67 (Mar. 2, 1995) STS-80 (Nov. 19, 1996) STS-96 (May 27, 1999)
17		Millie Hughes-Fulford Dec. 21, 1945 died Feb. 2, 2021	United States	First female payload specialist.	STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991)
18		Roberta Bondar Dec. 4, 1945	Canada	First Canadian woman in space. First Ukrainian Canadian woman in space.	STS-42 (Jan. 22, 1992)
19		Nancy Jan Davis Nov. 1, 1953	United States	Went to space with her husband, Mark C. Lee, in 1992. They were the first married couple to go to space together.	STS-47 (Sep. 12, 1992) STS-60 (Feb. 3, 1994) STS-85 (Aug. 7, 1997)
20		Mae Jemison Oct. 17, 1956	United States	First African American woman in space	STS-47 (Sep. 12, 1992)
21		Susan J. Helms Feb. 26, 1958	United States	The sixth woman to walk in space (March 11, 2001). The longest duration EVA by a woman (8h 56m).[8]	STS-54 (Jan. 13, 1993) STS-64 (Sep. 9, 1994) STS-78 (Jun. 20, 1996) STS-101 (May 19, 2000) STS-102/105 (Mar. 8, 2001)