Wally Funk, aviation pioneer and oldest woman to go into space, dies at 87

Wally Funk, a pioneering aviator who was barred from becoming a NASA astronaut and later, at age 82, became the oldest woman to travel to space, has died at 87.

Funk died peacefully Wednesday evening at her assisted living apartment in Grapevine, Texas, city councilwoman and close friend Duff O'Dell said Thursday. O'Dell, who described herself as Funk's caregiver, said she was by her side. Funk had fallen several times recently and had a leg infection. "It took its toll," O'Dell told the Associated Press.

The city of Grapevine posted on Facebook: "Wally was a beloved Grapevine resident whose extraordinary accomplishments and generous spirit left an enduring legacy." The city proudly recognized Funk for breaking barriers in aviation and space exploration, inspiring generations.

Born Feb. 1, 1939, Funk dedicated over seven decades to aviation. She earned her pilot's license at Stephens College in Missouri and studied education at Oklahoma State University, mainly because it had an aviation team called the Flying Aggies. "As a Flying Aggie, I could do all the maneuvers as well as the boys, if not better," she told The Guardian in 2019. She later became the only female flight instructor at a U.S. military base.

In 1961, Funk volunteered for NASA's Women in Space program, a privately funded effort to see if top female pilots could become astronauts. The 13 women — known as the Mercury 13 — underwent the same rigorous tests as the male astronaut corps. Funk was the youngest graduate and was told she "had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys." She spent 10 hours and 35 minutes in a sensory deprivation tank, outperforming astronaut John Glenn.

But the program, not sanctioned by NASA, was canceled after doubts about women's participation. Glenn said including women "may be undesirable." NASA chose seven men — the Mercury Seven — as its first astronauts. Funk tried four times to join NASA but was rejected for lacking an engineering degree. The agency didn't admit female astronauts until 1978.

Undeterred, Funk continued flying. She owned a flight school in Taos, New Mexico, became the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, and later worked for the National Transportation Safety Board. She logged over 19,600 flying hours and taught more than 3,000 people to fly.

In 2021, at age 82, she finally reached space aboard Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket as an "honored guest." At the time, she was the oldest person in space; the record was later broken by William Shatner and Ed Dwight, but Funk remains the oldest woman. "I've been waiting a long time to finally get it up there," she said after the flight.

"Wally Funk's unwavering determination proves that dreams have no expiration date," said O'Dell. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman posted: "Wally Funk never stopped believing that one day she would reach space." Blue Origin called her "a pioneer in every sense of the word."