Wally Funk

Mary Wallace Funk (born February 1, 1939) is an American aviator, commercial astronaut, and goodwill ambassador. She was the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the first female civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector, as well as one of the Mercury 13.

Funk became the oldest person to go to space on July 20, 2021, at age 82, flying on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft during its suborbital flight, breaking a record held by John Glenn for 23 years. Her record would stand until later that year when William Shatner's flight took place on October 13; Shatner was age 90 at the time. Funk remains the oldest woman to have travelled into space.

Funk is the last surviving member of the Mercury 13 group. She is also the only one of the thirteen to have traveled to space.

Early life

Funk was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1939 and grew up in Taos, New Mexico. Her parents owned a variety store. The family had a collection of artwork from artists at the Taos art colony, as the artists would trade artwork to pay off their debt at the store.

As a child, Funk was captivated by planes. When she was one year old, her parents took her to an airport near where they lived in New Mexico and she got up close to a Douglas DC-3, an early airliner. "I go right to the wheel and I try to turn the nut," she says. "Mother said: 'She’s going to fly.'" She became interested in mechanics and built model airplanes and ships. By the time she was seven, she was making planes from balsa wood. At nine, she had her first flying lesson.