5 interesting facts about Svetlana Savitskaya, the first woman who walked in space on this day in 1984

Svetlana Savitskaya, a Russian former aviator and Soviet cosmonaut, on July 25, 1984 created history by becoming the first woman to do a spacewalk conducting extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the Salyut 7 space station for nearly three hours and 35 minutes.

During her time out in space, she welded metals alongside her fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov.

Savitskaya was fond of flying since her childhood. Like father like daughter, her father too was a decorated fighter pilot in World War II.

Here are five interesting facts about the cosmonaut:

• Savitskya flew aboard Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space after Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. On her 1984 Soyuz T-12 mission, she became the first woman to fly to space twice, and the first woman to perform a spacewalk.

• By the time Svetlana turned 22, she had already recorded over 400 parachute jumps. By this time, she had also claimed the top spot at the World Aerobatic Championships

• She set 18 international world records on MiG aircrafts and three records in team parachute jumping

• Svetlana could fly over 20 different types of aircrafts

• Svetlana also has an asteroid named after her. It is called 4118 Sveta