First woman in space recalls mission's teething troubles

Valentina Tereshkova travelled into space in 1963 in a craft programmed to ascend but not descend. This was compounded by the fact she had no toothbrush

On 16 June 1963, within hours of Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space, she realised that the scientists and engineers who had worked for years on the project had made two mistakes, one small but enraging, one possibly terminal.

Re-united with her spacecraft, Vostok 6, in an epic exhibition at the Science Museum in London, she recalled the shock of the discovery. She had food, water, and tooth paste, but no toothbrush.