June 15, 1963 - Lieut. Col. Valery F. Bykovsky (pictured) whirled about the Earth today on what is planned as a prolonged orbital flight. The fifth Soviet astronaut to enter space was launched into orbit yesterday at 3 p.m. Moscow time aboard Vostok V. Another astronaut, possibly a woman, is expected to be launched into space soon, with the two craft performing a group flight. The Soviet Union has been training women astronauts for some time. East European Communist sources have been predicting for weeks that one of them would go into space before the opening in Moscow June 24 of the World Women’s Congress. Col. Bykovsky received morning greetings from the Moscow radio at 8 a.m. (local time) as he awoke to his second day in space. An official announcement over the radio said that by 8:30 a.m. he had completed 12 orbits.
Bình luận