Wally Funk Dies at 87: Mercury 13 Pioneer and Oldest Woman to Travel to Space

Wally Funk, the pioneering American aviator who became the oldest woman to launch into space, has died at the age of 87. Funk died of natural causes at her home in Grapevine, Texas, late on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, according to the city. Her death marks the loss of a trailblazer whose journey from the Mercury 13 testing program to a Blue Origin spacecraft spanned six decades.

Funk finally reached space on July 20, 2021, at the age of 82. She flew aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-16 mission with company founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and Dutch passenger Oliver Daemen. The flight was Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight.

At the time, Funk became the oldest person ever to travel into space and the oldest woman to make the journey. The overall age record was later surpassed by “Star Trek” actor William Shatner and Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate in the United States, who both flew with Blue Origin at age 90.

Wally Funk’s long road from Mercury 13 to space

Funk had spent most of her life preparing for the opportunity. In the early 1960s, she became one of the women later known as the Mercury 13, a privately organized group of accomplished female pilots who completed many of the same demanding physiological and medical examinations given to NASA’s original male astronauts.

According to officials in Grapevine, Funk ranked among the strongest performers in the testing program and exceeded the results of several male candidates in certain evaluations. The women demonstrated that they could withstand the physical demands associated with human spaceflight.

However, the Mercury 13 was not an official NASA astronaut class. NASA’s eligibility rules at the time favoured military test pilots, while women were excluded from the military positions that would have allowed them to qualify. Funk therefore remained on the ground despite her experience, performance and determination.

Her 2021 flight carried significance beyond an age record. It represented a long-delayed opportunity for a woman who had proved her ability during an era when the astronaut selection system did not provide women with an equal route into space.

A groundbreaking career in American aviation

Even without a place in NASA’s early astronaut program, Funk built an exceptional aviation career. She became the first female flight instructor at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and later worked as an airline transport pilot and international aviation expert.

Funk also became the first female inspector at the Federal Aviation Administration. During a career that combined flying, instruction and aviation safety, she trained more than 3,000 pilots and recorded over 30,000 hours of flight time.

Those achievements help explain why her place aboard New Shepard was widely viewed as recognition of a lifetime devoted to flight. Blue Origin’s official account of the New Shepard NS-16 mission identifies Funk as an aviation pioneer and a member of the Mercury 13.

Grapevine and Jeff Bezos remember a trailblazer

Funk had lived in Grapevine, a Texas city of about 50,000 people, for roughly 12 years. She became a celebrated local figure, and the city organized a parade in her honour after she returned from space in 2021.

Grapevine City Councilwoman Duff O’Dell said Funk’s determination proved that dreams have no expiration date. She said Funk’s courage, resilience and achievements would continue to encourage young people, particularly girls, to pursue careers in science, aviation and space exploration.

Bezos said Funk had waited 60 years to reach space and that nobody had earned the opportunity more. Recalling their flight, he described her as fearless and joyful, adding that she wanted to fly again before the New Shepard capsule had even completed its landing.

Blue Origin said her story would continue to inspire future explorers. Funk’s mission now stands alongside a renewed period of human spaceflight, including NASA’s historic Artemis II journey around the Moon, as governments and private companies expand opportunities for people to travel beyond Earth.

Funk’s legacy is not limited to the record she set at age 82. Her life demonstrated how qualified women were held back by institutional rules during the early space age, while her eventual flight showed that a delayed ambition did not have to become an abandoned one.

After returning from space, Funk summed up the experience with the enthusiasm that had defined her career: “I loved it. I want to go again, fast.”