{"id":373778,"date":"2026-07-15T08:29:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T08:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/373778\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T08:29:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T08:29:34","slug":"wally-funk-pioneering-pilot-and-mercury-13-member-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/373778\/","title":{"rendered":"Wally Funk, pioneering pilot and Mercury 13 member, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aviation pioneer and commercial astronaut Wally Funk died July 8 in her Grapevine home at the age of 87, according to a news release from the City of Grapevine<\/a>. The statement said Funk passed \u201cpeacefully surrounded by her loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funk was born in Las Vegas, N.M. in 1939 and dedicated her life to aviation. She left a legacy of breaking barriers in her career as one of the pilots of the all-female Mercury 13 test program,<\/a> where she out-performed her male counterparts on Mercury 7.<\/p>\n

She was also the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration; the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Board; and the first female flight instructor at a U.S. military base, at Fort Sill, Okla. Funk trained more than 3,000 pilots and logged more than 30,000 hours of flight time over the course of her life, according to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWally was a beloved Grapevine resident whose extraordinary accomplishments and generous spirit left an enduring legacy,\u201d the statement from the City of Grapevine said. \u201cThe City of Grapevine proudly recognizes Wally Funk, whose extraordinary career has inspired generations by breaking barriers in aviation and space exploration. Funk continues to serve as a global symbol of determination, perseverance, and excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, Funk, who was 82 at the time, finally had her dream of going to space<\/a> come true, and she became the oldest woman to travel to space during a mission on Jeff Bezos\u2019s New Shepard NS-16 Blue Origin rocket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing was so fantastic,\u201d Funk later said of the mission while speaking at a parade in her honor in Grapevine<\/a> in 2021. \u201cI could float around in space for three whole minutes. I couldn\u2019t believe it. This was the most fabulous thing of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funk and the other female pilots in the Mercury 13 program didn\u2019t have that opportunity decades earlier because NASA shut the program down in 1962.<\/p>\n

\"VAN VAN HORN, TEXAS – JULY 20: Blue Origin’s New Shepard crew (L-R) Jeff Bezos and Wally Funk arrive for a press conference after flying into space in the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas. Mr. Bezos and the crew were the first human spaceflight for the company. (Photo by Joe Raedle\/Getty Images) Joe Raedle Getty Images <\/p>\n

While many speculate that the Mercury 13 program was closed because NASA didn\u2019t want women in the space race with the Soviets, Funk said the reason she wasn\u2019t selected was because of her lack of an engineering degree, according to previous reporting from the Star-Telegram.<\/p>\n

Many Grapevine residents and other North Texans are now remembering Funk for her remarkable accomplishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWally Funk\u2019s unwavering determination proves that dreams have no expiration date,\u201d said Grapevine City Councilwoman Duff O\u2019Dell. \u201cHer courage, resilience and groundbreaking achievements continue to inspire young people \u2014 especially girls \u2014 to pursue careers in science, aviation and space exploration. Grapevine is honored to call Wally Funk one of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funeral arrangements for Funk have not been announced yet.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Fousia Abdullahi<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Fousia Abdullahi is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram news reporter who covers suburban cities including Southlake, Colleyville, Grapevine and Keller. She enjoys reading and attending local events. Send tips by email or phone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aviation pioneer and commercial astronaut Wally Funk died July 8 in her Grapevine home at the age of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-373778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}