Svetlana Savitskaya
Who was Svetlana Savitskaya?
Soviet cosmonaut who became the second woman in space in 1982 and the first woman to perform a spacewalk. She flew two missions aboard Salyuz space stations and later served in the Russian State Duma.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Svetlana Savitskaya (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya was born on August 8, 1948, in Moscow, Soviet Union. Her father was a marshal in the Soviet Air Force, and she showed an early interest in aviation and athletics. She trained at the Kaluga aviation school and continued her education at the Moscow Aviation Institute. She became known as one of the best pilots and parachutists of her time, setting multiple FAI world records in the 1960s and 1970s.
Savitskaya joined the Soviet cosmonaut program and flew her first mission to space on August 19, 1982, aboard Soyuz T-7, docking with the Salyut 7 space station. This made her the second woman ever to go to space, after Valentina Tereshkova’s 1963 flight. The Soviet decision to send a female cosmonaut in 1982 was partly a response to NASA's inclusion of women in their astronaut program in the late 1970s.
Her second space mission on Soyuz T-12 in July 1984 was historic. On July 25, 1984, Savitskaya performed a spacewalk lasting about three hours and thirty-five minutes outside the Salyut 7 space station, becoming the first woman to do so. During the spacewalk, she used a special tool for welding, cutting, and soldering experiments on the station's exterior, showing the practicality of doing construction and repairs in space. She was also the first woman to fly into space twice, a record that lasted over ten years.
After her cosmonaut career, Savitskaya stayed engaged in aviation and public service. She worked as a test pilot and entered politics, serving in the Russian State Duma as a representative of the Communist Party. In politics, she focused on defense and security, using her technical background in policy discussions.
Savitskaya has received many awards from the Soviet and Russian governments. She was named Hero of the Soviet Union twice, in 1982 and 1984, and received two Orders of Lenin in those years. Other honors include the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1976, Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1970, Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR in 1982, the Medal for Merit in Space Exploration in 2011, and the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, 4th class, in 2014. She also holds the title Master of Parachuting of the Soviet Union.
Before Fame
Growing up in Moscow as the daughter of Marshal of Aviation Yevgeny Savitsky, Svetlana Savitskaya was surrounded by Soviet military aviation from a young age. She started parachute jumping as a teenager and by the age of seventeen, she had completed over 450 jumps, eventually earning the title of Master of Parachuting of the Soviet Union. She trained at the Kaluga aviation school and later studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute, which gave her the technical foundation for her career as a test pilot.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, she became known as a world-class aerobatic pilot and set numerous FAI international records in aircraft speed and altitude categories. She was awarded the title of Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1970, showing her place among the top in Soviet aviation sport. This mix of parachuting skills, aerobatic talent, and engineering education made her a strong choice when the Soviet cosmonaut program wanted to train a new group of female cosmonauts in the early 1980s.
Key Achievements
- Became the second woman in space aboard Soyuz T-7 in August 1982
- Performed the first spacewalk by a woman during the Soyuz T-12 mission on 25 July 1984
- Became the first woman to fly in space twice
- Set multiple FAI world records in aerobatics and aircraft speed categories
- Twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, in 1982 and 1984
Did You Know?
- 01.During her 1984 spacewalk, Savitskaya used a multi-purpose electron beam hand tool to perform welding, cutting, brazing, and soldering operations on the exterior of the Salyut 7 station, making it one of the most technically complex EVAs conducted to that point.
- 02.Her father, Yevgeny Savitsky, was a twice Hero of the Soviet Union and a Marshal of Aviation, making the two of them one of the few parent-child pairs both to hold the Hero of the Soviet Union title.
- 03.Savitskaya set over fifteen FAI world records as a pilot, including absolute speed records in piston-engine aircraft categories during the early 1970s.
- 04.She was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1976, six years before her first spaceflight, recognizing her achievements purely as an aviator and athlete.
- 05.Savitskaya was elected to the Russian State Duma multiple times as a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, serving on committees related to defense well into the twenty-first century.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Lenin | 1982 | — |
| Hero of the Soviet Union | 1982 | — |
| Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class | 2014 | — |
| Order of the Badge of Honour | 1976 | — |
| Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR | 1982 | — |
| Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" | 2011 | — |
| Order of Lenin | 1984 | — |
| Hero of the Soviet Union | 1984 | — |
| Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR | 1970 | — |
| Master of Parachuting of the Soviet Union | — | — |
| Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class | 2019 | — |
| aircraft pilot qualification (class) | — | — |
| International Space Hall of Fame | 1985 | — |