What Russia was like in 1963 (PHOTOS)
Let’s take a look at the revealing photos depicting how the Soviet Union looked 60 years ago in the times of the Khrushchev Thaw, when the country became more open to the world.
One of the main stars of 1963 was Valentina Tereshkova. In June, she became the first woman in the world to fly to space.
Tereshkova is pictured below with chief space engineer Sergei Korolev before the flight.
Tereshkova trying space food.
After her legendary space flight, Tereshkova was greeted in Moscow like a rock star.
The same year, Valentina Tereskhova married cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolaev (Yury Gagarin attended the wedding).
A lot of foreigners visited the USSR that year. American writer John Steinbeck (left), author of ‘A Russian Journal’, below, visited the country for his third time!
Cuban leader and Soviet friend Fidel Castro also paid a visit, attending the Swan Lake ballet at the Bolshoi Theater, in which legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya performed.
Castro and Khrushchev also went skiing together.
In July, big western celebrities visited the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. Among them were Simone Signoret, Françoise Arnoule, Yves Montand and Jean Marais.
Participants in the Labor Day parade in Moscow.
June was also marked by the World Congress of Women in Moscow.
The late 1950s and early 1960s were marked by the mass construction of apartment blocks, “khrushchyovkas”, that was supposed to satisfy the needs of the growing urban Soviet population. Many families were happy to leave communal apartments for their own (though tiny) accommodation.
How the Bolshoi Theater was decorated for Labor Day (May 1) celebrations in Moscow.
Workers having a lunch break at a Leningrad factory.
Pioneers attending the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk.
Ballet backstage.
The Soviet hockey team celebrating their victory in the 1963 World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden.
An “auto-sleigh” mail delivery service.
Viktor Krivosheev, commander of a mechanized unit and proponent of communist labor posing for a photo.
Boys having fun skipping school.
A Soviet female scientist working in a library of the Moscow State University.
Legendary soccer goalkeeper Lev Yashin…
…and his multiple fans imitating him.
School students celebrating after the graduating exams.
