Into the Cosmos Read online

  contrast to the paper’s normal pattern of primarily addressing an implied

  male reader.11 Girls and women did appear with some regularity in the

  newspaper’s pages, both in illustrations and photos and as the subjects

  She Orbits over the Sex Barrier  199

  of stories. But such representations tended to shoehorn girls into a lim-

  ited number of roles and were significantly fewer in number than those

  focusing on male subjects. Girls were most commonly shown dressed

  in school or pioneer uniforms, sitting at desks, greeting distinguished

  (usually male) visitors with bouquets of flowers, or on parade for public

  holidays.12 Another frequent motif involved girls in the outdoors, picking

  flowers, displaying the fruits of the harvest, or doing agricultural work.13

  Other activities perpetually associated with girls included sewing, knit-

  ting, fashion, and hair styling as well as arts and crafts, music, drama,

  and dancing.14 The newspaper also encouraged girls to keep themselves

  in shape, showing them engaged in a variety of sports and recreational

  activities deemed appropriate for their gender: swimming, boating, vol-

  leyball, skiing, ice skating, and gymnastics.15

  By emphasizing Tereshkova’s accomplishments as a worker, sports-

  woman, and political activist, Pionerskaia pravda successfully packaged the cosmonaut as a tried-and-true role model for girls. Although not as

  pervasive as positive images of teachers and mothers (by far the most

  consistent presence), female sports champions were regularly profiled in

  Pionerskaia pravda, as were World War II–era heroines, political figures such as Nadezhda Krupskaia, and female Komsomol leaders or Communist Party members.16 Women workers also appeared with some regular-

  ity, especially those in occupations that in the USSR were traditionally

  female: textile workers, tractor drivers, secretaries, medical personnel,

  and the like.17

  Although the latter set of representations demonstrated that women

  could and did acquire technical knowledge and operate machines effec-

  tively, articles about females working in higher-level scientific specialties

  or studying physics, chemistry, mathematics, or the other hard sciences

  were relatively rare.18 Pionerskaia pravda’s editors and writers evidently considered scientific and technical fare to be more appealing (and appropriate) to their male readers. For instance, it was common to find an

  article such as the one that appeared in a February 1963 issue instruct-

  ing boys on how to build their own machines juxtaposed against images

  of girls working in the fields or gardening at home.19 As for stories of

  any genre in the pre-Tereshkova era concerning space exploration and

  rocketry, girls were practically invisible except as starry-eyed observers of

  male daring and accomplishment.20

  As Pionerskaia pravda’s coverage reveals, it was something of a para-

  200  Roshanna P. Sylvester

  dox that Tereshkova was portrayed as operating within the convention-

  al Soviet mold of female aspiration and heroism while simultaneously

  shattering old paradigms of female possibility. The first woman in space

  was quickly established as the newest link in an infamous chain of dar-

  ing Soviet heroines that included aviation pioneers as well as the much-

  celebrated female pilots and partisans of the World War II years. And

  yet in the Cold War context of the early 1960s, evidence suggests that it

  was the marriage of Tereshkova’s “everywoman” persona with more un-

  conventional aspects of her profile—especially her affinity and apparent

  aptitude for science and technology—that made “our Valia” an appealing

  and especially significant role model for girls.21

  Sveta’s Dream

  Even before the USSR had sent a woman to space, Soviet girls had

  shown themselves to be as susceptible as boys to the wave of cosmic en-

  thusiasm that swept the Soviet Union after Sputnik.22 Tereshkova herself cited “the heroic exploit of Yuri Gagarin” as a personal inspiration.23 But

  girls much younger than she also felt the pull and promise of Soviet space

  achievement at a personal level. For instance, when Pionerskaia pravda

  queried children about which events they thought they would remember

  their whole lives, Tania Arakelian from Krasnodar replied: “When Gaga-

  rin flew into space and when revolution came to Cuba.”24 Writing much

  later, the cultural critic, theorist, and media artist Svetlana Boym remem-

  bered that she and other “Soviet children of the 1960s did not dream

  of becoming doctors and lawyers, but cosmonauts (or, if worse came to

  worst, geologists).”25 Girls’ cosmic imaginings were likewise revealed in

  an April 1963 issue of Ogonek, which featured a selection of children’s letters to cosmonauts, including one from Valia Larshina in Orsk: “I am

  ready to fly to the very largest planet and study it. . . . I wouldn’t be ter-

  rified to fly to space. When the rocket is ready, I will be trained.” Mean-

  while, Liusia Zorina from Yalta imagined weaving together two seem-

  ingly irreconcilable career aspirations: “I want to be a ballerina and fly to

  space. I don’t even know which I want more.”26

  With Tereshkova’s emergence as a “sister” cosmonaut, these occa-

  sional references to girls’ desires for cosmic adventures became a fre-

  quent feature in children’s and family newspapers and magazines. In the

  heat of the Tereshkova moment, Pionerskaia pravda openly encouraged

  She Orbits over the Sex Barrier  201

  such dreams. Its front page on June 18, 1963, was dominated by a large

  photo of Tereshkova accompanied by a drawing of two Soviet rockets fly-

  ing through the cosmos. Next to these dramatic images was a small item

  penned by R. Kovalenko, who reported that the children in Krasnodar

  School No. 2 had recently completed a questionnaire that asked what they

  wanted to be when they grew up: “219 of 300 boys answered, ‘We dream

  of flying a space ship.’ But among the girls only Sveta Beliaeva from sev-

  enth class wrote, ‘Cosmonaut.’ And in parentheses explained, ‘If that is

  impossible, then an astronomer.’ It is possible, Sveta, it is possible! Your

  dream will come true,” Kovalenko enthused.27

  One of the most immediate signs that Tereshkova’s journey to space

  had broadened the landscape of girls’ imaginative possibilities was the

  profusion of cartoons portraying girls in space. Pionerskaia pravda featured two such offerings on June 21, 1963. The first showed a drawing

  of three girls and two boys standing in a circle playing a counting game.

  The caption relayed the words of the eldest girl: “One, two, three, four,

  five. I will fly you into space.” The second cartoon that day was titled

  “Magic Words.” In the first frame an older sister was portrayed tugging

  at the arm of her screaming younger brother: “If you don’t obey, I won’t

  take you to space with me when I grow up.” The second frame showed the

  boy standing up and walking hand in hand with his sister, still looking

  grumpy but at least cooperating.28

  Print cartoons of girls taking the lead in space exploration frequently

  linked standard symbols of girlhood with those associated with the co
s-

  mos. Festooning the front cover of the June 30, 1963, issue of the weekly

  humor magazine Krokodil was a full-color cartoon showing a school-aged

  girl in a polka-dotted dress clutching a stuffed bear while thumbing her

  nose at two boys who stood alongside holding their toys—a model rocket,

  plane, and helicopter. The caption reads, “Where’s your advantage in the

  cosmos now?” The second and third pages of the issue were completely

  taken up with other Tereshkova-themed cartoons, one of which depicted

  a young girl holding a cosmonaut doll outside the door of her school say-

  ing, “There is nothing interesting here. Let’s find out where the cosmo-

  naut school is!”29 The back pages of Ogonek’s June issue included a dozen Tereshkova-inspired cartoons, one of which portrayed a girl cozily asleep

  in bed. Above her head was a dream bubble showing her smiling in a

  spacesuit, striding purposefully away from her rocket on the surface of

  the moon.30

  202  Roshanna P. Sylvester

  Readers of these cartoons could hardly miss the point that girls

  were being encouraged to compete with boys at the very highest levels

  of scientific and technological achievement. But even more telling than

  comical representations were items that suggested just how powerfully

  real girls responded to Tereshkova’s accomplishment. For example, an

  Ogonek photo spread featured interviews with five Moscow girls, all of

  whom were planning to follow Tereshkova’s lead. Galia Pankova was pho-

  tographed standing in front of a Pravda front-page picture of her heroine:

  “I really like Valentina Tereshkova. I will try to imitate her in everything

  and also fly. . . . In my opinion, I even look a little like her!” Other girls explained that they wanted to be space scientists or rocket engineers. Tania

  Klokova, pictured with her hands on a model rocket lying before her on

  a desk, said, “I want to become Chief Designer [of a rocket ship] . . . and

  invent a ship that I’m satisfied with.” Sveta Solov’eva and Nina Savchuk,

  photographed pointing at a spot on a huge lunar globe, reported that they

  wanted to study the surface of the moon to select the best landing sites.

  Meanwhile, Tania Safronova announced her intention to invent space

  binoculars “so that I can see it all when I myself fly to the stars!”31

  “A Soviet Woman Has Stormed Outer Space”

  Even a brief survey of popular press coverage of Tereshkova’s flight

  suggests that Soviet girls enthusiastically embraced the new world of pos-

  sibilities opened up for them in science and technology by the female

  cosmonaut’s accomplishment. Meanwhile, Tereshkova herself reveled in

  the spotlight, enhancing the stature of women throughout the USSR.

  “A Soviet woman has stormed outer space,” Tereshkova exclaimed to a

  euphoric audience in her Red Square speech on June 22, 1963. Heaping

  praise on her Communist sisters, Tereshkova celebrated female successes

  in all realms of Soviet society: “[Women] are participating actively in state

  management, in the social and political affairs of the country, they are

  working enthusiastically in the economy, science, culture, education, and

  upbringing of the younger generation.” She was equally full of praise for

  the scientists, engineers, and technicians who made Soviet spaceflight

  possible, expressing heartfelt thanks to “all who took part in the develop-

  ment of our wonderful rockets and spaceships, all who equipped and pre-

  pared us for our complex journey into space, who ensured our successful

  fulfillment of this responsible assignment.”32

  She Orbits over the Sex Barrier  203

  Given the context of the Cold War space race, it is unsurprising that

  Tereshkova and those who commented on her successes were quick to

  valorize the accomplishments of Soviet science for audiences at home

  and abroad. In his Red Square speech Communist Party leader Nikita

  Sergeevich Khrushchev was effusive in his tribute, singling out for spe-

  cial praise the contributions of the rising generation: “the spaceships,

  the engines for them, and the fuel were developed mainly by young peo-

  ple” who worked “side by side with the experienced workers, scientists,

  engineers and technicians” to make the future happen now.33 Valentina

  Vavilina, the editor in chief of Rabotnitsa, reminded readers that women were among the active participants in these scientific accomplishments:

  “There are some spheres in which women are the main force [in Soviet

  society]: the textile and the food industries, schools, and medical institu-

  tions. But women have also helped create space rockets and the atomic

  icebreaker. All professions are open to them.”34 “Women are a mighty

  detachment of our Soviet science,” confirmed Vasili V. Parin, a member

  of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and chief physician in charge

  of monitoring the cosmonauts’ medical condition during their training

  and mission periods. “They are wonderful pilots of the latest high-speed

  aircraft. And here, following right after the men into the stellar heights,

  soars Valentina Tereshkova, a glorious Soviet woman” (figure 8.2).35

  Press biographies of Tereshkova underscored the point that the So-

  viet system successfully nurtured female accomplishment in the realms

  of science and technology and that the cosmonaut herself was a master of

  both. Newspaper readers were told that from an early age little Valia “fell

  in love with the machines” at the textile mill where her mother worked.

  She became infatuated “with their noise like falling rain with the twin-

  kling streams of thread, the sweet smell of fresh flax, and the deft skill

  of the women’s hands” as they worked the looms. It was precisely Teresh-

  kova’s love of machines that took her ever higher, first as a parachutist

  then as a cosmonaut.36 “My most interesting orbits were when I was con-

  trolling the ship manually,” Tereshkova reported in her first postflight

  press conference. “It is very exciting to feel such an intricate, complex

  machine respond to your will.” “I have got two wishes,” she commented

  later in the interview, “to study and to fly. In the future space flights will

  become even more interesting. There will be flights to the Moon, Mars

  and Venus, and of course I am eager to go on all of them.”37

  The question of the female cosmonaut’s own prowess in the realm

  204  Roshanna P. Sylvester

  Figure 8.2. Valentina Tereshkova, adorned with a panoply of medals and awards, was a visible ambassador for Soviet women on the international stage. Source: NASA.

  of science and technology was affirmed as well in Izvestiia’s coverage.

  The joint mission of Vostok-5 and - 6 was a scientific one, the paper reported; its main objective was to enhance medical-biological knowledge

  of how spaceflight influenced “the organisms of man and woman.” The

  bodily functions of the two cosmonauts were continuously monitored,

  the ensuing data allowing scientists and physicians to conduct com-

  parative studies that would enable spacecraft designers and engineers

  to perfect piloting systems and pave the way for further space explora-

  tion and colonization
.38 But press reports stressed the cosmonauts were

  not just passive objects of scientific research. Bykovskii and Tereshkova

  She Orbits over the Sex Barrier  205

  were actively involved in expanding the frontiers of knowledge. An open

  letter signed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the

  Soviet Union, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and

  the Council of Ministers of the USSR declared as much: “The feat of the

  cosmonauts is of unmatched significance. In the multiday joint flight

  cosmonaut comrades Bykovskii and Tereshkova fulfilled an extensive

  program of scientific research, making a new outstanding contribution

  to the treasure-house of world science and culture.” Their “unparalleled

  feat . . . has displayed with renewed force the genius of the Soviet people,

  a fighting people, a working people. Once again the infinite superiority of

  the socialist system over the capitalist and the might and grandeur of our

  country, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, have been convincingly

  and clearly revealed to the world.”39

  Tereshkova’s participation in the space program markedly elevated

  the currency of Soviet women in science and technology. But the fact

  of her accomplishment was exploited most thoroughly in the Cold War

  competition with America to win the propaganda wars in the developing

  world. The female cosmonaut’s value as a cultural ambassador was im-

  mediately apparent. After lavishly toasting his female space star, Khrush-

  chev quickly dispatched her to the World Congress of Women, which not

  by coincidence convened in Moscow on June 24, 1963. Tereshkova’s ap-

  pearance there was greeted with euphoria by delegates, many from the

  developing world, who saw her success as a breakthrough for all women

  everywhere. Beyond this, they applauded the Soviet Union and Com-

  munist ideology for making female equality a reality.40 As the journal-

  ist Stanislav Shcherbatov pointed out to English-language readers in the

  Moscow News: “A flight by a woman into outer space is no mere gesture. It is a logical development of our society. In our country equality of women,

  like atomic fission, has set free tremendous energy. Consequently in the