Women in space
Women of many nationalities have worked in space. The first woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, flew in 1963. Space flight programs were slow to employ women, and only began to include them from the 1980s. Most women in space have been United States citizens, with missions on the Space Shuttle and on the International Space Station. Three countries maintain active space programs that include women: China, Russia, and the United States of America. In addition, a number of other countries — Canada, France, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom — have sent women into orbit or space on Russian or US missions.
List of spaceflight records
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman when she surpassed Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's 199 days, 16 hours during Expedition 52 in 2017. She returned to Earth in September 2017, having spent 289 days, 5 hours and 1 minute in space. In third place is American astronaut Sunita Williams with 195 days on the ISS, where she was a member of Expedition 14/Expedition 15 (2006–2007).