Savitskaya was born in Moscow on 8 August 1948, inheriting her passion for flight from her father, Yevgeny Savitsky, who served as deputy commander of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. By the time she was 16, Savitskaya had decided that she wanted to be a pilot and applied to a flying school, though she was rejected because she was too young. She was, however, permitted to take up parachuting instead. By the time she was 17 Savitskaya had already completed 450 parachute jumps, and would soon take part in a recordbreaking stratospheric skydive from 14,252 metres (46,758 feet).
Savitskaya’s determined spirit and skydiving experience paid off when she was admitted to the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) at just 18 years old. In parallel with her studies at MAI, Savitskaya took flying lessons at the Central United Flight Technical School at the Central Committee of the DOSAAF, where she qualified as a pilot instructor in 1971. Savitskaya graduated from MAI in 1972, and went on to hone her skills at the aircraft department of the Test Pilot School of the Flight Research Institute of the Ministry of Aviation Industry in Zhukovsky, graduating from the institute in 1976. In 1986 Savitskaya successfully completed her doctorate degree at Bauman Moscow State Technical University.