Oldest Female Astronaut Who Fulfilled Her Dream at 82, Wally Funk, Dies

Her Spaceflight Dreams Denied in the 1960s Because She Was a Woman
Achieved Her Dream at 82... Holds Record as Oldest Female Astronaut

Wally Funk, the American aviation pioneer who became the oldest female astronaut at the age of 82, has passed away at the age of 87.

According to reports by CNN and other U.S. media outlets on July 9 (local time), Funk died at her home in Grapevine, Texas, on July 8.

Funk was the youngest participant among the 13 women selected for the "Mercury 13" program in 1961, which tested the suitability of female pilots for spaceflight. Although this program was not an official NASA astronaut selection process, it administered rigorous physical and psychological tests similar to those taken by the "Mercury 7," America's first group of astronauts.

At the time, Funk demonstrated exceptional skill, outperforming many male candidates in multiple tests. However, NASA only selected male candidates with military backgrounds as astronauts, and the women's program was discontinued, so she never had the chance to go to space.

Wally Funk, the oldest female astronaut. Photo by Yonhap News

Afterward, Funk applied to NASA several times but was rejected each time. The United States did not officially select female astronauts until 1978, and the first American female astronaut did not go to space until 1983.

Although she did not become an astronaut at that time, Funk served as the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), accumulating nearly 20,000 hours of flight experience and training more than 3,000 pilots.

Funk's dream finally came true in 2021, when she joined the inaugural crewed flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard space tourism rocket, founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as an honorary passenger.

Crossing the Karman line—the boundary of space—at the age of 82, she completed an approximately 11-minute flight and said, "Every moment was wonderful. I wish it had lasted longer." Though William Shatner and Ed Dwight have since broken the overall age record, Funk still holds the record as the oldest female astronaut.

On this day, Blue Origin commemorated her on its official social media, stating, "Wally Funk was a trailblazer in every sense of the word."

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