Wally Funk, born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, established herself as a trailblazer in aviation throughout her career. She earned her pilot’s license as a teenager and at age 20 became the first female flight instructor for the US military. Her professional achievements continued as she became the FAA’s first female flight inspector in 1971 and the NTSB’s first female instructor three years later. She operated a flight school in Taos where she trained more than 800 pilots and flew for various airlines and in competitive aviation events.
Despite her accomplishments, Funk’s most significant unfulfilled aspiration was becoming an astronaut. In 1960, she joined a program known as the Mercury 13 after learning that pilot Jerrie Cobb had been tested for spaceflight. Funk underwent the same rigorous training and testing as the seven male Mercury astronauts selected by NASA, performing exceptionally well. However, NASA refused to send women into space, citing a requirement that only USAF pilots be selected—a restriction that excluded all women at that time. This decision stood despite the Soviet Union sending cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova into space in 1963. Funk made four requests to be selected for spaceflight but was ultimately denied. Sally Ride eventually became America’s first female astronaut in 1983, decades after Funk’s rejection.
Funk pursued additional space training opportunities, including zero gravity weightless training in Russia at the Yuri Gagarin Centre in the early 2000s. Her long-deferred dream of spaceflight finally materialized in 2021 when she joined Jeff Bezos and his brother on Blue Origin’s New Shepard sub-orbital flight at age 82, making her the oldest woman to reach space. Following the flight, she received astronaut wings and expressed eagerness to fly again. Beyond aviation, Funk became a spokesperson for women’s equality in the workplace and was elected to the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1995 and the National Air and Space Museum’s Wall of Honor in 2017.
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