Wally Funk, a trailblazing figure in aviation who spent eight decades advancing opportunities for women in the field, passed away at age 87. Throughout her career, she accumulated numerous firsts: earning her pilot’s license as a teenager, becoming the U.S. military’s first female flight instructor at 20, serving as the FAA’s first female flight inspector in 1971, and becoming the first woman instructor for the National Transport Safety Board three years later.
Funk’s most significant unfulfilled aspiration was becoming an astronaut. After discovering that pilot Jerrie Cobb had been tested for spaceflight, Funk joined the Mercury 13 program despite being below the age requirement. She underwent the same rigorous training and testing as the seven male Mercury astronauts, performing exceptionally well and even surpassing some of her male counterparts. She submitted four requests to be selected for spaceflight, but NASA declined to send women into space, accepting only U.S. Air Force pilots, who were exclusively male at that time. This decision persisted even after the Soviet Union sent Valentina Tereshkova into space in 1963 and despite testimony from Mercury astronaut John Glenn to Congress about prevailing social attitudes regarding gender roles.
Funk later trained at Russia’s Yuri Gagarin Centre and conducted zero-gravity training in a specialized aircraft. In 2021, at age 82, she finally reached space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft alongside company founder Jeff Bezos and his brother, making her the oldest woman to fly into space. She subsequently became a spokesperson and inspirational speaker for workplace equality. Over her lifetime, Funk trained more than 800 pilots at her flight school in Taos and worked as a pilot for various airlines and flight operations. She was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1995 and joined the Wall of Honor at the National Air and Space Museum in 2017.
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