Cosmonaut commander Nikolai Kamanin obtained official approval to train a cadre of female cosmonauts in October 1961. The pool of Soviet female pilots being limited, potential candidates were also sought who were active sport parachutists. Five Soviet women were selected on 16 February 1962 and reported for training a month later. However the flight of a woman in space had little support from Chief Designer Korolev or Kamanin's military commanders.

In May 1962 a Soviet delegation, including cosmonaut Gherman Titov and Kamanin, visited Washington. On May 3 Kamanin and Titov were invited to a barbecue at the home of astronaut John Glenn. Glenn, already politically-connected, was an enthusiastic supporter of the 'Mercury 13' - female pilots who had passed the astronaut physical and were lobbying to be trained as Mercury astronauts. Kamanin understood from Glenn that the first American woman would make a three-orbit Mercury flight by the end of 1962. Armed with the threat that 'the Americans will beat us', Kamanin was able to obtain a decision to go ahead with the first flight of a Soviet woman within weeks of his return.

Meanwhile the five female cosmonaut were going through the complete course of cosmonaut training, including weightless flights, parachute jumps, isolation tests, centrifuge tests, and academic studies of rocket theory and spacecraft engineering. The women undertook 120 parachute jumps and received pilot training in MiG-15UTI jet trainers.

Even though NASA's female astronaut flight never materialised, Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963. Following her flight the women were enrolled in the arduous test pilot course at the Zhukovskiy Academy (except Ponomareva, who was a graduate engineer from the Moscow Aviation Institute). There were plans for all-female Vostok or Soyuz flights, but these never materialised. The female training group was disbanded in October 1969. The Soviet Union used only male cosmonauts until the 1980's, when women were again recruited, in order to again have a Soviet woman in space before the Americans finally began flying female astronauts on the space shuttle.

	Kuznetsova	Tatyana Dmitryevna Pitskhelauri (nee Kuznetsova). Russian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 14 July 1941. Pilot, engineer.
	Ponomaryova	Valentina Leonidovna Ponomaryova. Ukrainian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 18 September 1933. Pilot, engineer. Was married to astronaut Yuri Ponomaryov.
	Solovyova	Irina Bayanovna Solovyova. Russian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 6 September 1937. Pilot, Engineer.
	Tereshkova	Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. Russian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 6 March 1937. First woman in space. Was married to cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev.
	Yerkina	Zhanna Dmitriyevna Yerkina. Russian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 6 May 1939. Pilot, Engineer.