Sandego.net – “`html
Aviation Pioneer Wally Funk Who Trained as Early Astronaut Dies at 87
Aviation pioneer Wally Funk who trained as one of NASA’s earliest female astronaut candidates has passed away at age 87. The beloved Grapevine resident died peacefully on Wednesday evening at her home, according to Mona Quintanilla, a city spokesperson. Quintanilla described Funk as a generous spirit whose extraordinary accomplishments in both aviation and space exploration left a lasting legacy for future generations.
A Lifetime of Breaking Barriers
Born Mary Wallace Funk on February 1, 1939, she pursued aviation excellence throughout her entire life. At just sixteen years old, Funk enrolled at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she quickly joined the women’s flying club and earned her pilot’s license. Despite commercial airlines initially rejecting her applications, she persisted and became the first woman flight inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration and the first female investigator for the National Transportation and Safety Board.
Her dedication to flying accumulated more than 19,600 hours in the air, during which she instructed over 3,000 students. Duff O’Dell, a Grapevine City Councilwoman and close friend, praised Funk’s determination: “Wally Funk’s unwavering determination proves that dreams have no expiration date.” O’Dell noted that Funk’s courage continues to inspire young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and aviation.
“I got ahold of NASA four times, and said ‘I want to become an astronaut,’ but nobody would take me,” Funk recalled. “I didn’t think I would ever get to go up. Nothing has ever gotten in my way. They say, ‘Wally, you’re a girl, you can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Guess what, doesn’t matter what you are, you can still do it if you want to do it,’ and I like to do things that nobody’s ever done before.”
Her path to space began in February 1961 when she joined thirteen women in a privately funded initiative to prepare female candidates for NASA’s earliest missions. Funk emerged as the youngest graduate of the program, later noting she “had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys.” During one demanding evaluation, she spent 10 hours and 35 minutes in a sensory deprivation chamber, outperforming legendary astronaut John Glenn.
Although Funk and her Mercury 13 colleagues never received astronaut selections, NASA eventually chose its first female astronauts in January 1978, with Sally Ride becoming the first American woman in space in June 1983. Fifty years after her initial training, Funk finally realized her dream when Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos invited her aboard a New Shepard suborbital flight in July 2021. At eighty-two years old, she became the oldest woman to journey to space.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to finally get it up there, and I’ve done a lot of astronaut training through the world — Russia, America — and I could always beat the guys on what they were doing because I was always stronger and I’ve always done everything on my own,” Funk shared during a post-flight news conference. “I want to go again, fast. I loved every minute of it. I just wish it had been longer.”
During the eleven-minute voyage, Funk experienced weightlessness and marveled at space’s profound darkness. Bezos revealed the crew carried Amelia Earhart’s goggles, honoring another aviation trailblazer. Funk’s remarkable journey from rejected astronaut candidate to space traveler stands as a testament to perseverance and passion for the skies.
