India Marks 40th Anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova's Space Mission

On Thursday the Russian Science and Culture Center in New Delhi housed an official function on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of space flight by the world's first woman cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Participant in the function, president of the All-Indian Woman's Conference Amarjit Basu said: "The feat of this Russian girl has opened the road to space for many women in the world, including Kalpana Chawla from an ordinary Indian family. She was a member of the crew of the Columbia shuttle and has given her life in the name of exploring the Universe".

Member of the Russian delegation Natalia Yeliseyeva, president of the St.Petersburg branch of the Russian International Cooperation Association, said that several notable dates and events are marked this year. They are - Valentina Tereshkova's birthday /March 6/, the jubilee of her first space flight and the Days of St.Petersburg, marked in New Delhi for the first time. Yeliseyeva read out a message of Valentina Tereshkova, head of the Russian International Co-operation Association, in the name of Indian State Minister Sheila Dikshit.