Vostok

Any of a series of six manned Soviet spacecraft launched from 1961 to 1963. Vostok 1 (1961) carried the first human (Yury A. Gagarin) into space. Vostok 3 set a new time record in space of 94 hours. Vostoks 5 and 6 were launched two days apart and traveled very close together, at times only 3 mi (5 km) apart, setting the stage for future dockings between orbiting vehicles. The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, flew aboard Vostok 6.

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