Wally Funk, oldest woman to fly to space, dies
What's the story
Wally Funk, a pioneering aviator and the oldest woman to fly into space, has passed away at the age of 87. She died peacefully on Wednesday evening in her apartment at an assisted living facility in Grapevine, Texas. The news was confirmed by Duff O'Dell, a city councilwoman and close friend of Funk's who was also her caregiver during her final days.
Trailblazer
Funk dedicated over 70 years to aviation
Born on February 1, 1939, Funk dedicated over 70 years to aviation. She became one of the most skilled female pilots in the world and eventually achieved her lifelong dream of going into space. The city of Grapevine paid tribute to her on Facebook, saying she was "a beloved Grapevine resident whose extraordinary accomplishments and generous spirit left an enduring legacy."
Space odyssey
She volunteered for NASA's Women in Space program in 1961
Funk earned her pilot's license at Stephens College in Missouri and studied education at Oklahoma State University. She volunteered for NASA's Women in Space program in 1961, a privately funded project to see if top female pilots could be trained as astronauts. Though she excelled and became the youngest woman to graduate from the program, it was canceled due to concerns over women participating in space missions.
Unyielding spirit
Her career after the NASA project
Despite not being selected by NASA, Funk kept flying and teaching. She owned a flight school in Taos, New Mexico, where she taught aviation privately. She also served as the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and later as the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Over her career, she logged more than 19,600 hours of flying time and trained over 3,000 people to fly private/commercial planes.
Spaceflight
Flight with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin
In 2021, at the age of 82, Funk finally got her chance to go into space on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket. She was then the oldest person to fly into space, a record later broken by 90-year-olds William Shatner in 2021 and Ed Dwight in 2024. Funk remains the oldest woman to make the journey.