Wally Funk, the aviation pioneer who became the oldest woman to reach space, died at 87. Funk flew aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle on July 20, 2021, alongside Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark. At 82 years old at launch, she set the record for the oldest person ever to travel to space.
Funk's career spanned decades of breaking barriers in aviation. She earned her pilot's license in 1961 at age 24 and accumulated over 19,000 hours of flight experience. During the 1960s, she participated in the Mercury 13 program, an unofficial initiative that tested whether women could withstand the physiological demands of spaceflight. Though NASA never officially selected women astronauts until 1978, Funk completed the same rigorous training as the male Mercury Seven astronauts.
Throughout her career, she worked as a commercial airline pilot, test pilot, and flight instructor. Her achievements challenged the male-dominated aviation industry and opened pathways for women in aerospace. She remained active in aviation advocacy and mentorship well into her later years.
The New Shepard flight represented a culmination of Funk's lifelong pursuit of spaceflight. The suborbital journey lasted eleven minutes, crossing the Kármán line at 100 kilometers altitude before returning to Earth. Funk experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and viewed Earth's curvature from the edge of space, a goal she had pursued for more than six decades.
Her presence aboard New Shepard symbolized a shift in space tourism and the democratization of access to space. Unlike earlier NASA astronauts, Funk reached space as a passenger rather than a government-trained astronaut, yet her achievement carried profound historical weight given her decades of preparation and advocacy.
Funk's legacy extends beyond her spaceflight record. She