From a Tiny Apartment to the Stars: Ukraine’s First Female Astronaut’s Journey to Space

The initial Ukrainian female astronaut has recounted the extraordinary tale of how she achieved her lifelong ambition despite facing numerous challenges, many years after escaping her country ravaged by war.

At the age of 55, Lina Borozdina was among the four passengers selected to journey on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft, VSS Unity, owned by billionaire Richard Branson, during its second-to-last flight in January 2024.

The mission, Galactic 06, was the first without an astronaut instructor on board and marked the aerospace company’s sixth commercial space flight.

Her unique voyage to the ultimate frontier took over 18 years to materialize. The journey began when she successfully secured a prized spot on the spaceship by paying $200,000 in 2005. Presently, a ticket for a ride on Virgin Galactic costs around $600,000.

Though Borozdina, a DNA scientist based in Las Vegas, had the privilege to accomplish such a rare – and pricey – feat, the space trip was a childhood dream come true for a girl from humble beginning. 

‘It’s hard growing up as a female in Ukraine as it is a very male dominated country where women are treated like second class citizens there only to give birth and care for the kids,’ she told DailyMail.com.

‘I guess I was adventurous even back then,’ she said. ‘While other girls wanted to hear stories of Princesses in far off lands, I would ask my father to tell me a story about a girl on an adventure. 

‘He used to make up this wonderful tale where me and my cousin Inga, stowed away on a spaceship and every night it would be a different adventure. I vowed back then that, when I grew up, I would go into space for real.’

Borozdina’s dream was born from a wish she made to her father Yuril who was then a high-ranking Moscow-born KGB agent. He married English translator Emilia and the couple raised their daughter in Odessa, Ukraine. 

But when Russia was about to invade Afghanistan in 1979, the Moscow-born agent spoke up, opposing the idea and hung up his uniform permanently – moving to Ukraine full-time. 

The family lived in a small apartment with eight other families. Their small home had only one sink that ran cold water and a shared public bathroom. 

But tragedy struck when Borozdina’s ailing mother passed away from kidney failure when the now-scientist was only 13 years old. 

‘My mother died when I was 13,’ Borozdina told DailyMail.com. ‘She was born with only one functioning kidney, and suffered kidney failure, so I was raised by my father and grandparents.’

She said it was her relationship with her father that carried her through this loss. His guidance and willingness to listen about her dreams about the future shaped her into the woman who would travel to the stars almost 40 years later.

And despite living in a male-dominated society, Borozdina was encouraged by her father to pursue an education and even learn English.

‘My father spoke fluent English and I learned too,’ she said. ‘So, despite the fact we were poor, I attended an upper-class English school where I was an outcast. I was never invited to parties, but I did manage to make a couple of good friends. 

‘At 11 I took an exam for an art school and passed,’ she said. ‘So, I was able to develop my talent for art and continue to perfect my English. I went on to graduate with a master’s degree from Odessa National Polytechnic University.’

Borozdina fled her home country during her early 20s and sought political asylum in the United States, moving to California. It would take her 13 years to get a work permit.

While she was waiting for her application to be approved, her family set her up with a young Ukrainian man with refugee status – which came in handy when her case was denied, leading the pair to get married.

‘We were able to buy a condo,’ she said. ‘And I began working as a DNA Scientist. The marriage was short-lived, but the entire time, I never lost sight of my dream to go into space.’ 

‘When my husband and I split, I told him he could take everything, all I wanted was my ticket into space.’ 

After securing the ticket through taking out a second mortgage on her condo, she waited more than 18 years to board the flight alongside three other passengers: Franz Haider, a businessman from Austria, Robie Vaughn, an adventurer who had already climbed the seven tallest mountain peaks in the world, and Neil Kornswiet, a lawyer and hedge fund manager from California.

‘I was the youngest traveler and the only woman,’ Borozdina said.

‘Only four passengers are allowed on each flight plus two pilots. They used to allow one instructor and three passengers on board but they have done away with that, so now it’s just the four crew members and two pilots. 

‘I was due to fly on the 6th flight and my chance finally came this year. We had all been training and learning about our upcoming experience for years,’ she said.

Borozdina described herself as ‘surprisingly calm’ on the flight, despite being scared of flying on domestic planes, and felt confident with her training.

The biggest thing she had to learn was how to manage the 5G pressure when the spaceship reached top altitude and when they disconnected from the Mother Ship. 

‘The day we took off from Space Port in New Mexico, was a perfect day,’ she recalled.

‘We were dressed in our space suits and we wore parachutes on our backs in case of an emergency that would force us to jump from the ship on the way home when we reached an altitude of 30,000 feet.

‘We were each allowed to bring something from earth up with us. I jammed as much as I could into the pocket of my suit, bringing along small tokens from my friends and family members who had come from all over the world to witness my amazing journey.

‘One friend gave me rosary beads, another a ring and another friend who was a huge Disney fan, gave me a pin with Daffy Duck wearing a space suit.

‘Another friend from Ukraine gave me a small Ukrainian flag, which on my return I donated to a museum in Ukraine. I also brought along my childhood favorite doll, which one of the pilots stowed away in a cargo hold since we had to be aware of the weight.’ 

When the flight took off, she said the first 45 minutes or so it was like going up in a plane.

‘After about 45 minutes, the pilots began their countdown the way we had rehearsed so many times. They began to count backward from ten, and when they got to five, we knew our lives depended on what we had to do next,’ she said.

‘When they reached five, you had to lower your body, pushing your feet into the floor. You would scrunch your legs and tense up your body, pushing blood toward your head and when prompted, take a deep breath in preparation for the G-Forces you were about to experience.

‘Suddenly, the ship dropped and I heard the engines igniting after separating from the Mother Ship. I was slammed into my seat, pushing my upper body and my head back into my chair. It felt as if an elephant was sitting on my chest.

‘Your lungs had to be full of air, otherwise, it would be difficult to continue to take a full breath in after the G forces hit.

‘For the next minute and nine seconds, you could feel the thrust of the engines kicking in, and then… the power was shut off and we were gliding. Almost immediately my shipmates were unbuckling their straps, eager to experience weightlessness.

‘I was struggling to undo my straps, so it took me a few more seconds,’ she said. And although I too wanted to float weightlessly, I was more eager to view the earth through my window.

‘I didn’t realize it until later, but we were actually upside down, and I was laying on my back with my feet up. I looked out the window, and all I could see was the darkest blackness I ever saw. Then, there it was, the earth beneath us. 

‘I froze up and my eyes were riveted on the most amazing sight,’ she whispered, remembering that moment. ‘No video or photo you have ever seen could prepare you for what I saw.

‘The sun was up, and the earth had this luminous glow as if it were lit by one of those low-voltage light bulbs. And it was crystal clear.

‘There was a sort of Florissant, small blue band around the earth, and the edges against the velvety darkness seemed to be cut and pasted against the contrasting darkness.

‘No one spoke. We were each lost in our own thoughts and struck with awe. I began to weep, and although I wanted to experience the weightlessness, floating about the cabin, I was riveted to my seat.

‘I thought about my father back in Ukraine and all the nights he’d sit on the edge of my bed and tell me about little Lina and her cousin Inga and their adventures in space, and how that dream I had to fly off into space on that ship was finally coming true.’

After several minutes in space, the command was given to buckle up so they could begin their descent back to Earth. 

‘We had to be fully strapped in by the time the Commander said ‘1G.’ And again, we had to strain the leg and abdomen muscles to prevent Gravitational loss of consciousness.

‘When we finally slowed down, is when the ship hit the density of the atmosphere and the spaceship began swaying.  

‘When we slowed down to -1G, the pilots unlocked the wings, and we started to glide to the earth in a shallow spiral,’ she said.

Lina explained that this was the point where if something were to go wrong, it would. Should the wings lock and not unfold, the ship would go crashing to earth, so each person was equipped with a self-deploying parachute in case they were told to jump.

Each one also had a beacon locator so they could be found. But she said she was never in doubt that they would land safely.

‘I watched in amazement as we drew closer and closer to earth,’ she said. ‘There was no turbulence and from that point on it felt as if we were on a commercial flight. I remember thinking I felt Zen and completely calm.’

When they finally landed safely at the Space Port, there was a lot of cheering from relieved friends and family, and after a doctor came on board to give them a brief exam, and there were hugs and kisses all around.

Then they were sent to a sort of ‘reflection room,’ where they could be alone with their thoughts.

‘I don’t cry easily,’ she shared. ‘But I was bawling like a baby. My 85-year-old father could not make the trip from Ukraine to New Mexico, due to the war.

‘But a few of my friends, who I was able to share a video link with, recorded the trip and shared it with my father.

‘My first phone call was to Dad,’ she said. ‘I told him, ‘See Dad, I did it, I finally made you proud! I made it to the space from your stories exactly the way I promised.’