Following in Valentina’s Footsteps, a song about women in space, by Valerie Housden

Lyrics and music © Valerie Housden 1991 Performed by Valerie Housden on 13th August 2017 at Worldcon 75, Messukeskus, Helsinki, Finland. Video by James Fulkerson, Aurora, Illinois, USA A song inspired by Helen Sharman, who flew up to the Mir Space Station in May 1991, thus becoming the first Briton in space. The Valentina in the title is Valentina Tereshkova, who flew on Vostok 2 in 1963, to become the first Woman in Space. The other names mentioned in the song are brave women whose space flights contributed to our knowledge and understanding of space, including Christa McAuliffe and Judy Resnik, who died on board the Challenger Space Shuttle.