Ask Dr D: Astronauts Koch and Meir want to know how to respond to a disgruntled Trump

The Soviet pilot-cosmonaut was the first woman to do a spacewalk, when she flew to the space station Salyut 7 in December 1981. Later, speaking of her time in outer space, she recalled encountering sexism.

Chiaki was the first Japanese woman in space, a feat she accomplished when she went aboard space shuttle Columbia in July 1994. Four years later, she became the first Japanese citizen to have two space flights.

Indo-US astronaut Sunita Williams holds the record of the longest space flight by a woman. In all, she has been on seven spacewalks. In August 2007, she also became the first person to run a marathon in space.

Collins was a NASA astronaut who became the first female pilot and first female commander of a space shuttle, the STS-93 mission, that was launched in July 1999. She also became the first astronaut to fly the shuttle through a complete 360-degree manoeuvre.

Chawla became the first woman of Indian descent to go into space, although she was with NASA. She was one of the seven members on the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated upon atmospheric entry, killing all seven in 2003.

Tereshkova is the first and youngest woman to have flown in space, with a solo mission on the Vostok 6 in June 1963. Upon her return, she was given the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’.