Lady Astronaut Paintings That Are Out-of-This-World Wonderful

Updated on 3/6/2014 at 4:56 PM

Happy birthday, Valentina Tereshkova! The Russian cosmonaut became the first woman in space when she flew beyond the Earth's atmosphere aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963. To honor the precedent Valentina set for the incredible female astronauts thereafter, we'd like to share some amazing paintings by Ciaran Duffy, an artist who worked on this series featuring only spacefarers. Scroll down for a closer look at Ciaran's work!

Valentina Tereshkova — June 16, 1963

Valentina was the first woman in space!

Peggy Whitson — Oct. 12, 2007

The first female commander of the International Space Station spent more time in space than any other woman at 376 days total.

Sally Ride — June 18, 1983

Ride, Sally Ride! She was the first American woman in space.

Eileen Collins — July 26, 2005

Eileen was the first female commander of the NASA shuttle Discovery.

Susan Helms — March 10, 2001

Susan was the first female resident of the International Space Station.

Mae Jemison — Sept. 12, 1992

Mae was the first black woman in space.

Svetlana Savitskaya — July 25, 1984

Svetlana was the first woman to perform a spacewalk.

Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, and Naoko Yamazaki

On April 14, 2010, the highest number of women in space simultaneously — four — served together on the International Space Station.