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

A life in aviation

Wally Funk was born on 1 February 1939 and earned her pilot's license as a teenager at Stephens College in Missouri. She later studied education at Oklahoma State University, drawn by its Flying Aggies aviation team. "As a Flying Aggie, I could do all the manoeuvres as well as the boys, if not better," she told the Guardian in 2019. She became a flight instructor, the only woman in that role at a US military base, and went on to log more than 19,600 flying hours, teaching thousands to fly.

Mercury 13 and the long wait

In 1961, Funk volunteered for the privately funded Women in Space program. She and 12 other female pilots, later known as the Mercury 13, underwent the same rigorous physical and psychological tests as NASA's all-male astronaut corps. Funk was the youngest to graduate and the only one to pass every test. She spent over ten hours in a sensory deprivation tank, outperforming John Glenn. Despite her performance, NASA did not accept any of the Mercury 13 as astronauts. Funk applied multiple times after the program opened to women in 1978 but was never selected.

I had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys.

Space at last

Her dream was finally realised in 2021, when Jeff Bezos invited her aboard Blue Origin's first crewed New Shepard flight. At 82, she became the oldest person to travel to space, breaking a record Glenn had held for 23 years. The record was later surpassed by William Shatner at 90 and then by Ed Dwight, also 90, in 2024.

Legacy and tributes

Funk was the Federal Aviation Administration's first female inspector and the first woman to serve as an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. In 1995, she was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame. NASA chief Jared Isaacman wrote on X that her passion, perseverance and enthusiasm for discovery would continue to inspire future generations. Blue Origin called her "a pioneer in every sense of the word."

Wally Funk never stopped believing that she would one day fly into space. Her passion for flying, her perseverance and her enthusiasm for discovery will continue to inspire future generations of Americans. Bon voyage, Wally.

Funk died peacefully on Wednesday evening at her apartment in an assisted living facility in Grapevine, Texas. City councilwoman and close friend Duff O'Dell, who was at her side, said recent falls and a leg infection had taken their toll.