We're Celebrating Women In Space For World Space Week

This week is World Space Week and this year’s theme is “Women in Space”. So, we’re celebrating all of the women who have gone to space. Plus, we explain all of the ways that our name labels are designed to keep your family’s stuff safe in your world.

Celebrating Women In Space

To date, 70 women have been into space. The very first was Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian cosmonaut who went into space in 1963. It took almost 20 years for the next woman in space (Svetlana Savitskaya) but numbers began to increase more rapidly in the 1980s. These women came from France, Italy, South Korea, UK, Canada, China, Japan, Russia (Soviet Union), and the US and have ranged in age from 26 to 82. 

Women Who Have Been Into Space

• Valentina Tereshkova, 16 Jun 1963: First & youngest woman in space (26). Only woman to make a solo spaceflight.
• Svetlana Savitskaya, 19 Jul 1982, 17 Jul 1984: First woman to fly on a space station, to spacewalk, and make two spaceflights.
• Sally Ride, 18 Jun 1983, 5 Oct 1984: First American woman in space.
• Judith Resnik, 30 Aug 1984, 28 Jan 1986: Fourth woman & second American woman in space. Died in Challenger disaster.
• Kathryn D Sullivan, 5 Oct 1984, 24 Apr 1990, 24 Mar 1992: Second woman & first American to spacewalk.
• Anna Lee Fisher, 8 Nov 1984: First mother in space.
• Margaret Rhea Seddon, 12 Apr 1985, 5 Jun 1991, 18 Oct 1993
• Shannon Lucid, 17 Jun 1985, 18 Oct 1989, 2 Aug 1991, 18 Oct 1993, 22 Mar 1996, 16 Sep 1996: First woman to make five spaceflights. First Chinese-born woman in space. First American woman on a space station.
• Bonnie J Dunbar, 30 Oct 1985, 9 Jan 1990, 25 Jun 1992, 27 Jun 1995, 22 Jan 1998
• Mary L Cleave, 26 Nov 1985, 4 May 1989
• Ellen S Baker, 18 Oct 1989, 25 Jun 1992, 27 Jun 1995
• Kathryn C. Thornton, 22 Nov 1989, 7 May 1992, 2 Dec 1993, 20 Oct 1995: Third woman to spacewalk and first woman to make multiple EVAs (extravehicular activity).
• Marsha Ivins, 9 Jan 1990, 31 July 1992, 4 Mar 1994, 12 Jan 1997, 7 Feb 2001
• Linda M Godwin, 5 Apr 1991, 9 Apr 1994, 22 Mar 1996, 5 Dec 2001: Fourth woman to spacewalk.
• Helen Sharman, 18 May 1991: First British citizen in space. Second woman to fly on a space station.
• Tamara E Jernigan, 5 Jun 1991, 22 Oct 1992, 2 Mar 1995, 19 Nov 1996, 27 May 1999: Fifth woman to spacewalk.
• Millie Hughes-Fulford, 5 Jun 1991: First female payload specialist.
• Roberta Bondar, 22 Jan 1992: First Canadian & Ukrainian-Canadian woman in space.
• Jan Davis, 12 Sep 1992, 3 Feb 1994, 7 Aug 1997: Part of first married couple in space.
• Mae Jemison, 12 Sep 1992: First African-US woman in space.
• Susan J Helms, 13 Jan 1993, 9 Sep 1994, 20 Jun 1996, 19 May 2000, 8 Mar 2001: Sixth woman to spacewalk. Longest female by a woman (8h 56m).
• Ellen Ochoa, 8 Apr 1993, 3 Nov 1994, 27 May 1999, 8 Apr 2002: First Hispanic woman in space.
• Janice E Voss, 21 Jun 1993, 3 Feb 1995, 4 Apr 1997, 1 Jul 1997, 11 Feb 2000
• Nancy J Currie, 21 Jun 1993, 13 Jul 1995, 4 Dec 2002
• Chiaki Mukai, 8 Jul 1994, 29 Oct 1998: First Japanese woman in space.
• Yelena V Kondakova, 3 Oct 1994, 15 May 1997: First Russian woman to travel on the Space Shuttle & in two different spacecraft.
• Eileen Collins, 3 Feb 1995, 15 May 1997, 23 Jul 1999, 26 Jul 2005: First female shuttle pilot & shuttle commander.
• Wendy B Lawrence, 2 Mar 1995, 25 Sep 1997, 2 Jun 1998, 26 Jul 2005
• Mary E Weber, 13 Jul 1995, 19 May 2000
• Catherine Coleman, 20 Oct 1995, 23 Jul 1999, 15 Dec 2010
• Claudie Haigneré, 17 Aug 1996, 21 Oct 2001: First Frenchwoman in space.
• Susan Still Kilrain, 4 Apr 1997, 1 Jul 1997: Second female shuttle pilot.
• Kalpana Chawla, 19 Nov 1997, 16 Jan 2003: First Indian-born woman in space. Died in Columbia disaster.
• Kathryn P Hire, 17 Apr 1998, 8 Feb 2010
• Janet L Kavandi, 2 Jun 1998, 11 Feb 2000, 12 Jul 2001
• Julie Payette, 27 May 1999, 15 Jul 2009: Second Canadian woman & first French-Canadian woman in space.
• Pamela Melroy, 11 Oct 2000, 7 Oct 2002, 23 Oct 2007: Second female shuttle commander.
• Peggy Whitson, 5 Jun 2002, 10 Oct 2007, 17 Nov 2016: Seventh woman to spacewalk. First female ISS commander. Most cumulative time in space for an American astronaut (665 days). Most EVAs (10). Most time spent on EVA (60h 21m).
• Sandra Magnus, 7 Oct 2002, 14 Nov 2008, 8 Jul 2011
• Laurel B Clark, 16 Jan 2003: Died in Columbia disaster.
• Stephanie Wilson, 4 Jul 2006, 23 Oct 2007, 5 Apr 2010
• Lisa Nowak, 4 Jul 2006
• Heidemarie M Stefanyshyn-Piper, 9 Sep 2006, 14 Nov 2008: Eighth woman to spacewalk. First Ukrainian-American woman in space.
• Anousheh Ansari, 18 Sep 2006: Fourth “space tourist” & first female “space tourist” (self-funded). First Iranian in space.
• Sunita Williams, 9 Dec 2006, 15 Jul 2012: Ninth woman to spacewalk.
• Joan Higginbotham, 9 Dec 2006
• Tracy Caldwell Dyson, 8 Aug 2007, 2 Apr 2010: Eleventh woman to spacewalk. First astronaut born after Apollo 11 launch.
• Barbara Morgan, 8 Aug 2007: Oldest woman at time of first flight (55). First educator astronaut (Teacher in Space Project).
• Yi So-yeon, 8 Apr 2008: First Korean in space.
• Karen L Nyberg, 31 May 2008, 28 May 2013
• K Megan McArthur, 11 May 2009, 23 Apr 2021
• Nicole P Stott, 28 Aug 2009, 24 Feb 2011: Tenth woman to spacewalk.
• Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, 5 Apr 2010: First Space Camp alumna to become an astronaut.
• Naoko Yamazaki, 5 Apr 2010
• Shannon Walker, 15 Jun 2010, 15 Nov 2020: First Native Houstonian to go aboard the International Space Station.
• Liu Yang, 16 Jun 2012: First Chinese woman in space.
• Wang Yaping, 11 Jun 2013
• Yelena Serova, 25 Sep 2014: First Russian woman to visit the ISS.
• Samantha Cristoforetti, 23 Nov 2014: First Italian woman in space. First Italian woman on ISS.
• Kathleen Rubins, 6 Jul 2016, 14 Oct 2020: Twelfth woman to spacewalk.
• Serena Auñón-Chancellor, 6 Jun 2018
• Anne McClain, 3 Dec 2018: Thirteenth woman to spacewalk.
• Beth Moses, 22 Feb 2019: First woman to make a spaceflight on a commercially launched vehicle.
• Cristina Koch, 14 Mar 2019: Fourteenth woman to spacewalk. With Jessica Meir, part of first all-female EVA. Most continuous days in space for a woman (328).
• Jessica Meir, 25 Sep 2019: Fifteenth woman to spacewalk. With Cristina Koch, part of first all-female EVA.
• Sirisha Bandla, 11 July 2021: Passenger on the sub-orbital spaceflight of Virgin Galactic Unity 22 (first commercial private flight).
• Wally Funk, 20 July 2021: Oldest person in space (82). Space tourist on Blue Origin NS-16. Only one of the “Mercury 13” – women who completed a private program in the 1960s based on NASA’s tests for its (male) astronauts – to have travelled into space.
• Sian Proctor & Hayley Arceneaux, 16 September 2021: On the first crew of private citizens to complete an orbital spaceflight.
• Yulia Peresild, 5 October 2021: Actress participating in “The Challenge”; the first feature length fiction film to be shot in space.

Name Labels To Keep Your Family’s Stuff Safe…To Infinity & Beyond!

Our name labels were designed for busy families who just want to get stuff labelled so they can move on to more important things! Here’s how our name labels have been designed to keep your stuff safe – no matter how far you travel!

Colour

We print our bright white name labels with a bold black font. This contrast makes your personalisation easy to read for kids (and adults) of all ages.

Size

Stikins ® name labels measure 30mm by 15mm, which makes them a neat but discrete addition to items of any size or shape.

Font Size

Our system uses the largest font size that will allow your personalisation to fit onto your name labels. You can have one or two lines with up to 18 characters per line (including spaces). Our online print preview shows you what your personalisation will look like so you can try a few options to see which one looks best!

Adhesive

Our adhesive is totally unique and designed to simply stick on and stay on. Independently tested using the BS EN ISO6330 wash test procedure for 60 washes at 40 degrees, our adhesive holds your labels in place wash after wash after wash. You can also put labelled items through tumble dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, or sinks.

The main reason our name labels are multipurpose is our unique adhesive. You can use Stikins ® name labels on all kinds of different items and our adhesive will make sure your name labels stay stuck.

Print

We use a special ink that is tough and long lasting. It is highly resistant to damage and solvents, which ensures that your personalisation stays put and legible all year round.

Flexibility

Stikins ® name labels are made from an ultra-light, ultra-flexible synthetic material. This makes them equally effective on flexible surfaces (like wash-care labels) and flat surfaces (like plastic lunch boxes).

Order Your Own Name Labels & Make Sure That Your Family’s Stuff Is Always Ready For Take-Off (& Landing!)

We offer packs of 30, 60, 90, 120, and 240 name labels. You can order online at any time or give us a call during office hours to order by phone.

Delivery is free and uses Royal Mail’s first class service. We print and post our name labels Monday to Friday. Order by 3pm and we’ll despatch your order same day. Order after 3pm or over the weekend and we'll despatch your name labels on the next working day.