Released in 2023, the two quilted portraits of female astronauts by Karen Nyberg celebrate and honor women in space history on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first woman to travel into space (Valentina Tereshkova) and the 40th anniversary of the first American female to fly into space (Sally Ride).
Valentina Tereshkova, First Female Astronaut
“Valentina is a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman to travel into space. On June 16, 1963, she was launched in the spacecraft Vostok 6, which completed 48 orbits in 71 hours. I had the pleasure of meeting Valentina in Star City, Russia while she was there training for her launch on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. And in 2013, I sent a video message from the International Space Station congratulating her on the 50th anniversary of her historic flight. Valentina, and all the trailblazers who followed, were huge inspirations to me when I was young and dreaming of one day flying in space myself.”
—Karen Nyberg
Sally Ride, First USA Female Astronaut
“In a space agency filled with trailblazers, Sally Ride was a pioneer of a different sort. The soft-spoken California physicist broke the gender barrier on June 18, 1983, when she became the first American woman in space. I had just turned eight years old when NASA selected the first group of astronauts that included women and minorities. The selection of Sally along with Anna Fisher, Rhea Seddon, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Judy Resnik was inspiring and helped me realize that becoming an astronaut was really a possibility.”
—Karen Nyberg
Cotton batik fabrics, backgrounds from Nyberg’s Orbital Sunrise collection. Quilted with cotton thread.
Meet & Greet with Astronaut Karen Nyberg at the Lunar Quilts!
Sun., Mar. 30, 2:45–3:30 p.m. in the Hall of States
