"The story of the peasant’s daughter who became a household name thanks to communism’s achievements made her a role model for young Soviet women. Her photograph smiling from a space suit became an icon. President Vladimir Putin, who invited Tereshkova to his residence near Moscow to mark her birthday, said her flight remained an inspiration for the resurgent Russia of today. “Your flight was, and will remain, a matter of pride for the Soviet people, for the Russian people,” he told Tereshkova who sported the gold star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on her black suit. Tereshkova all but disappeared from public life after the Soviet Union collapsed and now heads an obscure international cooperation association under the auspices of the foreign ministry and takes part in private projects helping orphans. “I want you to know I will serve the country to the end,” she told Putin."