Wally Funk, who flew to area at 82 after a lifetime of flying and preventing for girls in aviation and aerospace, has handed away at age 87.
Born in Texas in 1939, Funk was decided to take to the skies, flying as an adolescent and turning into an expert aviator on the tender age of 20. Her goals prolonged even past Earth, and in 1961 she joined the “Mercury 13” group of ladies who accomplished the testing given to NASA’s male Apollo astronauts. However Funk was the one Mercury 13 alum to ever attain area. After a lifetime of flying, in July 2021, the then 82-year-old Funk launched to suborbital area aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard car, a visit that she described as “unimaginable.”
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of Wally Funk,” Blue Origin shared in a press release on X on Thursday (July 9). “Wally was a pioneer in each sense of the phrase … On NS-16, sixty years later, Wally made historical past because the oldest astronaut on the time and stays the oldest lady to ever fly to area. It was a second six a long time within the making. We have been humbled to be a part of her journey. Her story will proceed to encourage generations of future explorers. Fly Wally, Fly.”
Making area historical past
Funk’s spaceflight was historic in each sense of the phrase. “I have been ready a very long time to lastly stand up there,” she stated throughout a livestreamed postflight briefing on the time. “I’ve achieved a variety of astronaut coaching by the world — Russia, America … I might at all times beat the fellows on what they have been doing, as a result of I used to be at all times stronger. I’ve at all times achieved the whole lot alone.”
On the time of her spaceflight, Funk was the oldest individual to ever go to area. However she was additionally the one member of the Mercury 13 to ever make it there. Funk joined the group, formally referred to as the “Girls in Area” program, as its youngest member at solely 21 years outdated. Led by doctor William Lovelace, this system put a bunch of younger girls by the identical rigorous bodily and psychological testing as NASA’s male astronauts to see how they’d fare. And, throughout the board, the group both saved tempo with and even excelled by comparability.
Whereas this system did not have official authorities sponsorship, there was hope that success might pave the best way for girls to be allowed into the human spaceflight program. (NASA astronauts have been all male on the time; the company did not choose a feminine astronaut candidate till 1978.) And in a means, it did, although it took far longer than the group probably anticipated.
Regardless of the group not resulting in spaceflight entry for girls on the time, the members proved their functionality past doubt. In a single explicit check, members have been submerged in a sensory deprivation tank, a check meant to measure a participant’s psychological fortitude. Whereas famed NASA astronaut John Glenn — who became the first American to orbit Earth — lasted three hours in the tank, Funk stayed in for a whopping 10 hours and 35 minutes.
‘Married to airplanes’
Though Funk was quite young when she joined the Mercury 13, she’d already racked up years of aviation experience and an impressive array of accomplishments. In fact, Funk, who never married, famously said that she was “married to airplanes.”
From her teenage experience with the “Flying Susies,” Funk found her way to the skies as early as possible. And following her participation in the Mercury 13 program, Funk became the first female civilian flight instructor at a U.S. military base. Her aviation career was storied; she served as the National Transportation Safety Board’s first female Air Safety Investigator, competed in air races and was even chief pilot for multiple aviation schools across the country, sharing her knowledge and expertise with countless aviation hopefuls.
But while she continued to make history and pursue her passions in aviation, her love for space never dwindled. When NASA finally began accepting women into the astronaut corps in the late 1970s, Funk was quick to apply. She applied three separate times but was denied on each occasion. Despite these setbacks, she remained close to the space world, even attending a launch with fellow former Mercury 13 members in 1995 to see NASA astronaut Eileen Collins lift off as the first woman to pilot a space shuttle.
A dream, realized
With her spaceflight dream still aflame, Funk was once again quick to act when Blue Origin got New Shepard fully up on running. And on July 20, 2021, Funk finally realized this lifelong goal, on the first-ever crewed flight of the suborbital spacecraft. (Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos was on that flight as well, along with his brother Mark, Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen.)
In thinking of her many aviation students, she said at the time, “I don’t know if they’re going to get to see this or not … but I felt so charged. I was just a normal person going up into space.”
Funk will be remembered for her passion, her dedication and her many accomplishments across aviation and aerospace, which will continue to inspire aviators for generations to come.
