Wally Funk - Ad Astra
- 10th Jul 2026
- Author: Alex Thompson
The National Space Centre is saddened to hear of the passing of legendary space pioneer Wally Funk, part of the Mercury 13 and the oldest woman to ever go to space.
Born in 1939 in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Wally Funk had a fixation for aviation from an early age. Building model airplanes and ships as a toddler, she was making planes from balsa wood aged seven and took her first flying lesson aged nine. Funk left school aged sixteen as her gender didn’t allow her to study machinal drawings and auto mechanics. She obtained her pilot’s license in 1958 and received numerous aviation awards in her time studying science at Oklahoma State University. She would become a professional aviator aged twenty and become the first female flight instructor at a US Military base.
It was around this time that Funk would volunteer for the “Women in Space” programme, a non-official project ran by William Randolph Lovelace. These women, dubbed the “Mercury 13”, took the same tests as NASA’s official seven male astronauts, regularly outscoring them on some tests. As the youngest member, Funk finished third amongst the women, bettering the first American in space John Glenn in certain areas. Her crowning achievement came in the sensory deprivation tank - a pitch black, soundproof tank of water. Despite most people only being able to last a couple of hours submerged in these conditions, Funk lasted over ten and a half hours before being forcibly removed by officials! Unfortunately, the programme was cancelled before the women’s final tests, and when NASA did start accepting female candidates in the late 1970s, Funk’s lack of engineering degree and test piloting experience meant she was rejected three times.
Instead, Funk blazed her own path in the aviation field. In 1971, she became the first woman to complete the FAA’s General Operations Inspector Academy course as she earned the rating of flight inspector and became the agency’s first female field examiner. She would be the first woman in the United States promoted to Systems Worthiness Analysis Program (SWAP) specialist before being hired by the NTSB as its first female Air Safety Investigator in 1974. Funk would continue to compete in many races, winning the Pacific Air Race from San Diego to Santa Rosa in 1975.
Finally, in 2021, 60 years after being selected as one of the Mercury 13, Wally Funk finally got her chance to go into space on the first crewed Blue Origin mission. She was selected by the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, to fly on a ten minute sub-orbital spaceflight with himself, his brother and an auction winner on the New Shepard spacecraft. With this flight, Funk became the oldest person to go into space, beating the previous record held by old adversary John Glenn. Though this record would be beaten again a few months later by William Shatner, at 82, Funk still holds the record for the oldest woman in space.
Though they tried to take her dreams, Wally Funk never gave up or lost her energy and passion for spaceflight. On a visit to the National Space Centre in 2019, aged 80, Funk was far more giddy and full of wonder than even the most enthusiastic child that listened to her talk about her incredible life that day, even trying several times to jokingly steal this author’s Apollo bomber jacket (I assume she was joking!) Wally’s energy, charisma and refusal to take no for an answer not only helped her achieve her dreams, but have inspired many others to follow theirs.
Ad Astra Wally.
Image One - Wally Funk set many records and firsts in the aviation industry. Credit: Wally Funk
Image Two - Funk finally got her chance to go to space as a guest of Jeff Bezos on the first crewed New Shepard flight. Credit: Blue Origin
Image Three - Funk with members of the Space Communications team on her visit to the National Space Centre in 2019. Credit: Tamela Maciel
