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.
Valery Korzun
Korzun made his first trip to space on board the Soyuz TM-24 with cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, and the first French woman in space, Claudie André-Deshays on 17 August 1996. The Soyuz spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 13:18:03 UTC. After two days of solo flight, the Soyuz docked with the Mir station on 19 August at 14:50:23 UTC. Korzun and Kaleri became the 22nd resident crew, first together with NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid, later with astronauts John Blaha and Jerry Linenger. On 2 March 1997 Soyuz TM-24 carrying Korzun, Kaleri and ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald returned to Earth. The Soyuz capsule landed landing 128 km east of Jezkazgan at 06:44 UTC. Korzun spent 196 days, 17 hours and 26 minutes on board Soyuz TM-24 and Mir.