Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya (Russian: Светла́на Евге́ньевна Сави́цкая; born August 8, 1948, in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet female aviator and cosmonaut who flew the Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space some 19 years after Valentina Tereshkova. She is the daughter of a Soviet military commander Yevgeniy Savitskiy.
She was selected by GMVK as cosmonaut on 1980.
There were allegations that Soviet claimed a space first in 1982 when Svetlana Savitskaya shared the Salyut 7 space station with two Russian male colleagues. Online postings say there were "experiments" to try to conceive the first space child. But there is no independent confirmation of this; instead Savitskaya says in her memoirs that the two male cosmonauts "welcomed me at the hatch with an apron". She threw it aside and "established a working relationship."
While on the Salyut 7 space station on July 25, 1984, cosmonaut Savitskaya became the first woman ever to perform a space walk. She was outside the space station for 3 hours 35 minutes.
Upon returning to Earth, Savitskaya was assigned as commander of an all-female all female Soyuz crew to Salyut 7 in commemoration of the National Women's Day, a mission that was latter canceled.
She was twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal.
She is also a test and sports pilot - starting from 1974 she set 18 international world records on MiG aircraft and three records in team parachute jumping. She also won the first place in the 6th FAI World Aerobatic Championship in 1970.
Savitskaya retired from her active cosmonaut's duty in 1993.
She is a member of the State Duma representing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.