Wally Funk: The pioneering aviator who set a space record

Wally Funk: The pioneering aviator who set a space record

Wally Funk — 1939-2026Wally Funk waited over 60 years for a few fleeting moments of weightlessness. An accomplished pilot, she longed to go to space from the moment in 1960 when she heard of a private program that put female pilots through the same astronaut fitness tests that the men were taking. At 22, Funk was the youngest of the Mercury 13, the group of women who passed the grueling physical challenges, and she was one of just two to go thro…