Meet Wally Funk, the 82-year-old female aviator on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin flight who's finally going to space six decades after training for it

Sarah JacksonJul 18, 2021, 18:22 IST

Elizabeth Culliford/Reuters

Wally Funk is one of three other passengers joining Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin's suborbital space flight on Tuesday.
She was part of a group of female aviators known as Mercury 13 who trained for space in the 1960s.
The 82-year-old will break John Glenn's record for being the oldest astronaut.

When Wally Funk joins Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin's flight to the edge of space Tuesday, she will become the oldest-ever US astronaut, edging out John Glenn. Here's a look at the career of the 82-year-old aviator.

Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1939. Her passion for aviation began early in life.

Wally Funk

Funk graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1960 with a degree in secondary education.

WallyFly.com

In 1961, Funk volunteered to join the Women in Space program, a group of female aviators undergoing testing and training in the hopes of becoming astronauts for the first human spaceflight program in the US.

NASA/Associated Press

In 1961, Funk volunteered to join the Women in Space program, a group of female aviators undergoing testing and training in the hopes of becoming astronauts for the first human spaceflight program in the US.

The training was rigorous and consisted of several phases.

WallyFly.com

In the end, all of the women were denied the chance to go to space through the program, which was shut down.

Terry Renna/Associated Press

But that didn't stop Funk, who applied to NASA in the 1970s, when the agency started training female astronauts.

NASA/Associated Press

Funk went on to become the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector, as well as the first female air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

NASA/Associated Press

Funk went on to become the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector, as well as the first female air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

She'll set another record when she boards Blue Origin's spaceflight on Tuesday.

MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images

Funk will be in the company of three other passengers onboard the New Shepard rocket, including Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

Elizabeth Culliford/Reuters

Besides this trip, Funk hopes to board another spaceflight in the future, next time with Blue Origin rival Virgin Galactic.

Reed Saxon/Associated Press

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Meet Wally Funk, the 82-year-old female aviator on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin flight who's finally going to space six decades after training for it

Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1939. Her passion for aviation began early in life.

Funk graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1960 with a degree in secondary education.

In 1961, Funk volunteered to join the Women in Space program, a group of female aviators undergoing testing and training in the hopes of becoming astronauts for the first human spaceflight program in the US.

The training was rigorous and consisted of several phases.

In the end, all of the women were denied the chance to go to space through the program, which was shut down.

But that didn't stop Funk, who applied to NASA in the 1970s, when the agency started training female astronauts.

Funk went on to become the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector, as well as the first female air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

She'll set another record when she boards Blue Origin's spaceflight on Tuesday.

Funk will be in the company of three other passengers onboard the New Shepard rocket, including Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

Besides this trip, Funk hopes to board another spaceflight in the future, next time with Blue Origin rival Virgin Galactic.