Svetlana Savitskaya

Svetlana Savitskaya

Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya (Russian: Светла́на Евге́ньевна Сави́цкая; born August 8, 1948) is a former Soviet female aviator and cosmonaut who flew aboard Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space some 19 years after Valentina Tereshkova. She served two duty tours on the Salyut 7 space station, and on her second one became the first woman to perform a space walk on July 25, 1984. She was outside the space station for 3 hours 35 minutes. Of the 57 Soviet/Russian spacewalker through 2010, she is the only female. She is the daughter of Soviet military commander Yevgeniy Savitskiy. She is married, with one child.

She started training as a cosmonaut in 1980. Upon returning to Earth, Savitskaya was assigned as the commander of an all-female Soyuz crew to Salyut 7 in commemoration of the International Women's Day, a mission that was later canceled.

She was twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title. The asteroid 4118 Sveta is named for her.

She was also a test and sports pilot - starting from 1974 she set 18 international world records on MiG aircraft and three records in team parachute jumping. She won first place at the 6th FAI World Aerobatic Championship in 1970.

Savitskaya retired in 1993 from the Russian Air Force with the rank of Major.

She is a member of the State Duma representing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. She presently serves as Deputy Chair of the Committee on Defense, and is also a member of the Coordination council presidium of the National Patriotic Union.