Wally Funk: the female trailblazer who’s the oldest person to go to space

Earlier today, Wally Funk became the oldest person to ever go to space, aboard the historic New Shepard space flight. But who is Wally Funk?

Earlier today, Wally Funk was among the crew that blasted into space aboard Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard. The Amazon founder was also onboard, alongside his brother Mark and the 18-year old son of Somerset Capital Partner’s CEO. At 82, Funk is the oldest person to ever go to space.

While the focus of the historic flight has mainly been on Bezos as the second billionaire to go to space, it was also a momentous occasion in space travel. More specifically, who is allowed to venture beyond earth.

The much-anticipated trip marked a number of milestones, including the first un-piloted suborbital flight with an all-civilian crew. It was also the first crewed launch for Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. As well as the oldest, the crew also included the youngest person to ever reach space.

After landing Funk said, “I’ve been waiting a long time to finally getting up there.”

“I loved it,” she said. “I want to go again, fast!”

A long-delayed dream

After the flight, Funk described feelings of gratitude for finally seeing her long-delayed dream come true. However, she said that the aircraft didn’t quite go high enough to see the world.

“I saw darkness, I thought I was going to see the world, but we weren’t quite high enough,” she said. However, she didn’t seem too phased by this, saying the flight was “great”.

“I felt like I was just lying down, just lying down — and I was going into space.”

“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 have always done everything on my own,” she said.

A lifetime of achievements

By the age of 22, Funk had earned top grades in aviation college and was a certified pilot. She was the first female civilian flight instructor at a US military base at a time when it systematically excluded women.

Funk’s lifetime goal was to become one of the first female astronauts. She was actually one of the was one of the 13 female pilots who trained to go to space in the 60s’, but she missed the chance back then due to her gender. At 24, she was the youngest of these ‘Mercury 13 women’.

She excelled across the board during her training with NASA, sometimes even surpassing the men who were selected. During one test, Funk was placed in a sensory deprivation tank. She remained there for more than 10 hours before the researchers finally brought her out, because they wanted to go home.