Historical context
On June 22, 1963 Valentina Tereshkova returned to Moscow after her historic space flight. Her space mission, Vostok 6, took place from 16 to 19 June 1963. On her return, she was given a hero’s welcome in Moscow with a grand reception and celebrations. The film shows again the historic “space enthousiasm” of many young soviet people.
18 years after the end of the Second World War, the need for new heroes and new goals became apparent. In this respect, Khrushchev and his advisors hit the nerve of the times when they focussed on civilian space travel eight years earlier. “Conquest” could take place here without war and the supposed superiority of one’s own political system over the opponents in the West could be proven peacefully in science and technology.
This calculation failed in the race for the moon landing. However, it was also due to the replacement of Khrushchev by Brezhnev in October 1964, which gave the hawkish faction the upper hand in the Soviet system.
The film about her flight is here.