The Soviet Union set the pace for space travel in the Fifties and early Sixties, launching the first satellite, Sputnik 1; the first animal, Laika the dog; the first man, Yuri Gargarin; and the first woman.

Tereshkova, now 78, became a global celebrity in the 1960s – and was reunited with her craft the Vostok-6 which comes complete with the scorched remains of its heat shield. Missing toothbrush sufferers can simply pop to a nearby shop or pharmacy but spare a thought for Russian cosmonaut Dr Valentina Tereshkova.

“I believe this exhibition shows how interesting and important for mankind is the work of people both on the ground and in space”, Tereshkova said.

Tereshkova was speaking exclusively to The Telegraph at an event to launch Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age at the Science Museum in London. While it was a fact, she said that she was resourceful as any woman should be. However, within hours of accomplishing this feat, Tereshkova realized that she had no toothbrush to clean her teeth in space, and her spacecraft was programmed only to ascend and not to descend. Tereshkova parachuted safely to the surface from seven kilometers up. “I’m coming to see you!” during launch.

The contribution of Russian Federation to space exploration can not go unnoticed as it is a good example of human ambition.

For more details about the exhibition, “Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age“, see the Science Museum’s website.

Often classified top secret for decades and many from private collections and archives, the collection demonstrates the initial supremacy of the Soviet Union in the 20th century space race.

This landmark exhibition, which opens to the public on Friday, September 18, will feature more than 150 Soviet-era space-related objects, including Vostok 6, a uniform worn by Gagarin and the LK-3 lunar lander.

Museum director Ian Blatchford considers this exhibition as the most ambitious exhibition in the history of the Science Museum.

“We are borrowing things that that our Russian colleagues really do think of as their crown jewels – and nearly none have ever left Russia”, said Blatchford.

The spacecraft would have orbited the Earth 48 times over the course of just two days, 22 hours, and 50 minutes before spinning out into deeper space.

“Ground control continued to operate as normal”, he recalled, his eyes filled with pride at the opening of the exhibition.