Trailblazing pilot Wally Funk will become the oldest person to fly to space, after being selected as part of a four-person crew that will be launched into space by Blue Origin.
In 1961, Wally Funk was the youngest graduate of the Woman in Space Program, also known as Mercury 13, that saw thirteen American women pass all the exams and physiological and psychological screening tests necessary for admission into NASA’s astronaut corps. These were the same tests completed by the Mercury 7 astronauts, the men selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury.
However, the women were denied the opportunity to fly to space when a congressional hearing was held to investigate whether the women should qualify to be astronauts. It was ultimately decided that women shouldn’t use the military facilities needed for space training. None of the thirteen women in the program ever made it to space.
“They told me I had done better, and completed the work faster, than any of the guys,” Funk said in a video posted to Blue Origin’s website.
“I got a hold of NASA four times and said “I want to become an astronaut”, but nobody would take me.
“I didn’t think that I’d ever get to go up.”
Funk, now aged 82, became a trailblazing aviator instead when her dream of being an astronaut was denied. She has since taught over 3000 people to fly aeroplanes.
On July 20, Funk will head into space as part of a 10-minute rocket flight, accompanied by Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
“They said, ‘Wally, you’re a girl, you can’t do that’,” Funk said.
“I said, ‘Guess what, doesn’t matter what you are, you can still do it if you want to do it.’ I like to do things that nobody’s ever done.”
“I’ll love every second of it.”
Wally Funk became the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration in the US in 1971, and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. She has logged more than 19,600 hours of flight time.
“Everything that the FAA has, I’ve got the license for,” Funk said in the video. “And, I can outrun you!”