Blue Origin
Wally Funk waited over 50 years to go to space. Later this month, she’ll be doing just that on Blue Origin’s New Shepard.
Back in the 1960s, Wally was part of the Mercury 13, a group of 13 women that underwent the same screening tests that the male astronauts did for Project Mercury. But while the Mercury Seven ended up flying to space, the Mercury 13 never did.
“They told me I had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys,” Wally says on Instagram. “I said I want to become an astronaut, but nobody would take me. I didn’t think I would ever get to go up.”
But on July 1, Blue Origin announced that Wally would be flying to space alongside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark. The Grapevine resident will be the oldest person to fly to space at 82 years old.
“They say 'Well you’re a girl, you can’t do that,'” she smiles. “I said 'Guess what? Doesn’t matter what you are, you can still do it if you wanna do it!' And I like to do things that nobody has ever done.”
Wally will board the New Shepard alongside the Bezos’ on July 20.