Wally Funk, an aviation pioneer who became the oldest woman to travel to space, has died at 87. The city of Grapevine, Texas, where she lived, announced on Thursday that she died peacefully the evening before, surrounded by loved ones.
Funk, who was born on Feb. 1, 1939, has been hailed as a barrier-breaker for women in the world of aviation and space exploration. The city said she had dedicated more than seven decades of her life to the skies, becoming one of the world’s most accomplished female pilots.
“Wally Funk’s unwavering determination proves that dreams have no expiration date,” Grapevine City Councilwoman Duff O’Dell said. “Her courage, resilience and groundbreaking achievements continue to inspire young people – especially girls – to pursue careers in science, aviation, and space exploration. Grapevine is honored to call Wally Funk one of our own.”
Grapevine is a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, located about 23 miles northwest of Dallas.
The city notes that in 1961, Funk was picked as one of the elite women in the Mercury 13 program, also known as the First Lady Astronaut Trainees program. She successfully completed the same rigorous physical and psychological testing program administered to NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts, and she ranked among the program’s top performers. Funk even outscored many of her male counterparts on several tests.
While she was qualified, women were not allowed to become NASA astronauts at the time. However, Funk blazed her own trail in aviation.
The city of Grapevine said she became the first female flight instructor at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. As a flight instructor, she trained more than 3,000 pilots and logged more than 30,000 hours of flight time. Her career saw her garner international respect.
“The greatest feeling”
Funk’s dream of reaching space would come true in July 2021, at the age of 82. She was part of Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-16 mission, joined by Jeff Bezos and other crew members. That mission made her the oldest woman ever to travel to space – setting a new Guinness World Record – and the only member of the Mercury 13 program to reach space. She shared more about her historic mission with CBS News Texas anchor Doug Dunbar.
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As the crew waited for a hold, Wally pushed her communication button with her thumb and got on the radio.
“What’s the holdup?” she asked over the radio.
Just minutes after the hold, New Shepard roared to life.
“You can feel the engine start to build up,” she recalled.
And as the rocket rose above the desert, Funk’s first look out her window led her to smile and simply say, “Wow! There goes the ground!”
She says she was amazed at the speed. Not that she felt it, but next to her seat was a monitor with all the flight data displayed.
New Shepard would eventually push Funk’s capsule more than 2,500 miles per hour, more than three times the speed of sound.
Funk said the three minutes she spent floating in space were “the greatest feeling! Because you are on your own! I’m gonna do about three turns, or somersaults, or lay flat. Or do a somersault, whatever you can do because nothing is holding you back!”
Celebrating a pioneer
The city of Grapevine notes that Funk’s accomplishments were well-recognized and honored. In 2024, she was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. She’s also been inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame and the Mercury 13 Hall of Fame, and she will be posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame at the New Mexico Museum of Space History.
Stephens College in Missouri recognized her with the Alumna Achievement Award, becoming the youngest woman to receive the honor. She was also awarded Oklahoma State University’s Outstanding Female Pilot Trophy, the Flying Aggie Top Pilot Award, two consecutive Alfred Alder Memorial trophies, recognized as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America, and was named an Honorary Colonel of Louisiana.
