Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk became the oldest person to go into space at the age of 82 on the Blue Origin Blue Sheperd that launched on July 20, 2021. This morning Wally Funk died at the age of 87 in Texas, United States. The cause of death was not disclosed but she had previously fallen several times and lived in a gold-colored care center.
The late Funk broke the record held by 77-year-old John Glenn when he returned to space in 1998. Wally Funk was selected because she had undergone the Mercury 13 female astronaut program in the 60s.
Despite passing all the requirements set by NASA, she was never selected to go into space because the program only accepted men. Interestingly, in several tests conducted by NASA, the scores recorded by Funk were higher than those recorded by John Glenn.
In the 70s when the NASA program began to open to women, Funk was again ineligible because she did not hold a master's degree or have experience as a test pilot. Despite failing several times, Funk never gave up and campaigned to encourage women's participation in the space program.
