Wally Funk, oldest woman to visit space, dies at 87

Aviation pioneer Mary “Wally” Funk died on Wednesday at her home in Grapevine, Texas, at the age of 87. Funk became the oldest woman to go to space in 2021, when she flew with Jeff Bezos aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-16 mission at the age of 82, according to Guinness World Records. Funk also made history in 1961 as the youngest woman ever to train as an astronaut, joining William Randolph Lovelace’s all-female astronaut group known as the Mercury 13. She became the only Mercury member to ever reach outer space.

The New Mexico native started her aviation career early and flew her first plane at the age of 9. Funk later joined Oklahoma State University’s aerial team, the Flying Aggies, and voiced pride in her ability to pull off the same maneuvers as her male teammates in a 2019 interview with The Guardian.

Funk claimed other firsts, including being the first female flight instructor at U.S. military base Fort Sill and the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration. She also served as the National Transportation Safety Board’s first female air safety investigator, according to the city of Grapevine. Funk trained more than 3,000 pilots and logged over 30,000 hours of flight time, city officials added.

Alongside her many awards and honors, she will be posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame at the New Mexico Museum of Space History.