Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6. According to the Times of India, her flight lasted nearly three days and included 48 orbits. She was 26 years old at the time. The National Air and Space Museum reported that Tereshkova was born on March 6, 1937, in Bolshoye Maslennikovo. She graduated at age 17 and, while working at a textile mill at age 18, took correspondence courses from an industrial school and joined a club for parachutists, making over 150 jumps. In September 1961, Tereshkova wrote a letter to the Soviet space program volunteering for the cosmonaut team; at the same time, Soviet space officials were considering the selection of a group of women parachutists. She was invited to Moscow for an interview and medical examination in December 1961. In March 1962, she reported with three other women to the Soviet Space Center at Star City. The women selected for the Soviet cosmonaut program were subjected to the same centrifuge rides and zero-G flights as men and were commissioned as junior lieutenants in the Soviet military. Valentina Tereshkova did not fly in space again after her 1963 mission.