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.
Judith Resnik
Resnik was the second American woman in space, after Sally Ride, and fourth overall. She was also the first American Jewish astronaut to go into space, the first Jewish woman and at the time only the second Jew to go to space (after Boris Volynov of the Soviet Union).