This day in history

On 16 June, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Russian Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to fly in space. From her capsule, the 26-year-old cosmonaut reported that all was going well to a Soviet television audience. After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to Earth, having spent more time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date.

In November 1963, she captured the public’s heart by marrying another cosmonaut, Andrian Nikolayev. The world’s first space couple performed a number of goodwill visits to other nations in later years. The United States did not send a woman into space until twenty years later.
 

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, declares that Israel has fully complied with UN Security Council Resolution 425; the complete withdraw of Israeli forces from Lebanon.
 

Judges in America uphold the decision to convict British au pair Louise Woodward of manslaughter and the passing of a reduced sentence - the number of days already spent in custody awaiting trial for the killing of Matthew Eappen, the young boy left in her care in Massachusetts.
 

Andrew Morton publishes a controversial book about Diana Princess of Wales, claiming she attempted suicide on several occasions. 
 

Imre Nagy, Prime Minister of Hungary during the 1956 Uprsing, is given a formal public funeral 31 years after he was executed.
 

Leonid Brezhnev becomes President of the USSR.