Aviation Legend Wally Funk Dead at 87

Pilot icon and tireless trailblazer broke barriers from the cockpit to the edge of space.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, July 09, 2026 at 03:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Wally Funk became the oldest person to go to space on July 20, 2021, at age 82, flying on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft during its suborbital flight. [Credit: FLYING Archive]

Key Takeaways:

Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk, a pioneering aviator and the youngest member of the Mercury 13, died at 87.
Denied official astronaut training in 1961 due to gender restrictions, Funk finally achieved her dream of space flight at age 82 in 2021 aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard, becoming the oldest person at the time to reach space.
Beyond her space aspirations, Funk made significant contributions to aviation, becoming the first woman FAA inspector and National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator.

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Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, the youngest member of the first “Women in Space Program,” later known as the Mercury 13, died at her home in Grapevine, Texas, on Wednesday night. She was 87.

In 1961 Funk at 22 volunteered for the Women in Space program, which was created to train women as astronauts. The program was privately created by physician William Lovelace II and funded by Jacqueline Cochran, who in 1943 created the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).