Russia to send first woman cosmonaut to ISS in 2013

Russia plans to send its first female cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013, the federal space agency Roscosmos said Thursday. According to Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin, Yelena Serova, the only female in the current Russian cosmonaut list, will be trained and prepared for at least two and a half years for the space flight to the ISS. Russia has sent three women cosmonauts into space, but not one to the ISS. Serova, mother of a nine-year girl, said she has always dreamed of making a space flight and her husband, who is also a cosmonaut, supports her decision. The world's first woman flying into space was Valentina Tereshkova from the Soviet Union, who was sent into space on board the Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963. Women from the United States, Japan and South Korea used to work in the ISS.