Share to ClassroomWally Funk, Oldest Woman in Space, Dies
Wally Funk, the oldest woman ever to fly into space, has died at the age of 87. She died on Wednesday at a care home in Grapevine, Texas. A friend said Funk had fallen several times and had an infection in her leg. Funk was born in 1939 and learned to fly when she was young. She flew more than 19,600 hours. She was also the first woman to work as an inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) .
Funk dreamed of space for many years. In the early 1960s, she joined a special program that tested top female pilots. They took the same hard tests as the male astronauts at NASA (the US space agency) . Thirteen women passed and became known as the Mercury 13. But NASA never approved the program, and it was stopped. NASA did not accept women as astronauts until 1978. Funk asked to join many times, but they always said no.
Funk never stopped flying. In 2021, when she was 82, she finally went to space on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket. For a short time, she was the oldest person ever to fly to space. She is still the oldest woman to reach space. After she died, Blue Origin called her a pioneer. Funk once said, I'll be flying till I die.
