American aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who was the oldest woman to go to space, has died at 87 in Texas.
Ms Funk died Wednesday, local time, at her apartment in an assisted living facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, Texas, Grapevine City Councilwoman Duff O’Dell said.
Ms O’Dell, who described herself as Ms Funk’s caregiver, said she was by Ms Funk’s side.
Wally Funk (second left) was one of the so-called Mercury 13 women trained to become NASA astronauts in the 60s. She didn’t make it to space until 2021. (Reuters: NASA handout)
Ms Funk had fallen a couple of times recently and had a leg infection.
“It took its toll,” Ms O’Dell said in a phone interview.
Ms O’Dell said Ms Funk was the “most eternally optimistic person” she had ever met.
“She was told by many, many, many men, ‘No, you can’t do this. No, you can’t do that,'” Ms O’Dell said.
“And she never got mad about it. She just was more determined.”
Ms Funk was one of the so-called Mercury 13 women who trained to become NASA astronauts in the 60s but never flew into space after being passed over due to their gender.
At 21, she was the youngest woman to pass the same tests as the male Mercury Seven astronauts in NASA’s program that first sent Americans into space between 1961 and 1963.
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In 2021, when she was 82 years old, and some 60 years after first undergoing training, Ms Funk was one of billionaire Jeff Bezos’s three co-passengers aboard his company Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital launch.
She set the new record as the oldest person to launch into space, surpassing the late John Glenn, who had set the previous record at age 77 when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.
“I’ve been waiting a long time,” she said after the launch.
“The four of us, we had a great time. I want to go again — fast.”
Her record was later broken by Star Trek actor William Shatner and Ed Dwight, America’s first Black astronaut candidate. They were both aged 90.
Mr Bezos chose Ms Funk as an “honoured guest” to ride alongside him during the Blue Origin launch.
Wally Funk was a Virgin Galactic ticketholder and also the first female flight instructor at a US military base. (Reuters: Elizabeth Culliford)
“Wally Funk never stopped believing that one day she would reach space,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman posted on Thursday on X.
“Her passion for flight, perseverance, and love of exploration will continue to inspire generations of Americans. Godspeed, Wally.”
Ms Funk was also the first woman flight instructor at a US military base and the first woman to become an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.
“I’ve done a lot of astronaut training through the world, Russia, America. And I could always beat the guys at what they were doing because I was always stronger and I’ve always done everything on my own,” Ms Funk said in 2021.
AP