Wally Funk
Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk is an American aviator, commercial astronaut, aviation-safety official, and Mercury 13 participant. She became the only Mercury 13 member to travel to space when she flew Blue Origin’s NS-16 suborbital mission in 2021.
- Born
- February 1, 1939
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Las Vegas, New Mexico,United States
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
10 minutes, 18 seconds
Bio
Funk built a long aviation career as a flight instructor, FAA inspector, and National Transportation Safety Board air-safety investigator. In the early 1960s, she was among the women who passed Lovelace Clinic astronaut-screening tests during the privately funded Woman in Space Program.
NASA did not accept the Mercury 13 women into the astronaut corps, so Funk spent decades outside official government crew assignment paths. Her eventual New Shepard flight connected that early screening history to the commercial suborbital era.
On July 20, 2021, Funk flew aboard New Shepard NS-16 with Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Oliver Daemen. The flight lasted 10 minutes, 18 seconds and made Funk, then 82, the oldest woman to have flown in space.