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

Wally Funk at a press conference after the Blue Origin Flight into space in July 2021. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Wally Funk at a press conference after the Blue Origin Flight into space in July 2021. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Wally Funk, aviation pioneer and oldest woman to go into space, dies at 87 Trailblazing pilot was denied opportunity to become Nasa astronaut but made history on Blue Origin flight in 2021 Wally Funk, a trailblazing aviation pioneer who was denied the opportunity to become a Nasa astronaut and half a century later became the oldest woman to travel into space, has died aged 87. 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 said on Thursday. O’Dell, who described herself as Funk’s caregiver, said she was by Funk’s side. Funk had fallen a couple of times recently and had an infection in her leg. “It took its toll,” O’Dell told the Associated Press. “Wally was a beloved Grapevine resident whose extraordinary accomplishments and generous spirit left an enduring legacy,” the city of Grapevine shared on Facebook . “The City of Grapevine proudly recognizes Wally Funk, whose extraordinary career has inspired generations by breaking barriers in aviation and space exploration. Funk continues to serve as a global symbol of determination, perseverance, and excellence.” Born on 1 February 1939, “Funk dedicated more than seven decades to aviation, becoming one of the world’s most accomplished female pilots and, ultimately, fulfilling her lifelong dream of traveling to space”, the post reads. She received her flying licence at Stephens College in Missouri and went on to study education at Oklahoma State University, mainly because it had an aviation team known as the Flying Aggies. “As a Flying Aggie, I could do all the manoeuvres as well as the boys, if not better,” she told the Guardian in 2019 . After that, she became a flight instructor – the only female one – at a US military base. View image in fullscreen Wally Funk sits in the cockpit of an AT-6 training plane at Hawthorne airport. Photograph: Don Cravens/Getty Images Funk volunteered for Nasa’s Women in Space program in 1961, a privately funded effort to test whether the US’s best female pilots could become astronauts. The 13 female pilots – who became known as the Mercury 13 – went through the same rigorous physical and psychological tests as Nasa’s all-male astronaut corps as the space age began. Funk became the youngest woman to graduate from the program, and she was told she “had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys”, she said in a promotional video for her later Blue Origin flight. She even spent 10 hours and 35 minutes inside a sensory deprivation tank in one Mercury 13 test, outperforming the famed astronaut John Glenn. But the programme, which was not sanctioned by Nasa, was cancelled after doubt