Astronaut
The first civilian in space was Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 (she also became the first woman in space on that mission).
Tereshkova was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force, which did not accept female pilots at that time. A month later, Joseph Albert Walker became the first American civilian in space when his X-15 Flight 90 crossed the line, qualifying him by the international definition of spaceflight. Walker had joined the US Army Air Force but was not a member during his flight. 
The first people in space who had never been a member of any country's armed forces were both Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov aboard Voskhod 1.
Astronaut-politician
In Russia, cosmonaut Yuri Baturin, described by Space.com in 2000 as "Russia's only cosmonaut / politician", became a senior aide to President Boris Yeltsin and served as one of that nation's leading space policy advisors. All four female Russian astronauts have gone on to serve in the State Duma. Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, entered politics in the days of the Soviet Union, serving in parliament and as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman in space, was elected to the State Duma in 1996 and currently serves as Deputy Chair of the Committee on Defense, in addition to being a member of the Commission on Safety, Defense, and the Fight Against Crime in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia. Yelena Kondakova served in the Duma as a member of the Fatherland – All Russia party, and after the party dissolved, as member of United Russia. However she left United Russia in 2011 as a result of her dissatisfaction with results of internal party elections. Most recently, Yelena Serova, the first female Russian cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station, was elected to serve in the Duma in 2016.