Blast Off Yelena Kondakova

October 4, 1994 Cosmonaut Yelena Kodakova launched into space with Soyuz TM-17. She spent 169 days in space and is credited as the first woman to make a long-endurance spaceflight. In 1997 she flew aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and now serves as a deputy in the Duma, Russia’s parliament.