Wally Funk Is Going to Space Aboard Jeff Bezos ’s Rocket. Here’s Why That Matters

There’s a good reason for all the fuss about Wally Funk this week. On July 20, Funk, 82—an aviator, the first female air-safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—will climb aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard spacecraft and fly a suborbital arc more than 100 km (62 mi.) up, becoming the oldest person ever to go to space. The flight comes courtesy of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, who is accompanying Funk and two other passengers on the first crewed flight of his company’s spacecraft. Bezos tapped her for the mission last month—fulfilling Funk’s lifetime dream of going to space—and released an irresistible video of him breaking the news to her in person, and asking her what her first words would be when she landed. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “I would say, ‘Honey, that’s the best thing that ever happened to me!'” she exulted, grabbing the richest man in the world in a bear hug. So what’s not to like about Funk and her trip? Not a thing—except that in some ways the plaudits for her are coming 60 years too late. In 1961, Funk, then 21 and already a professional aviation instructor, joined what was formally known as the “Women in Space” program—an aspirational project that in fact had not a lick of a chance of ever sending so much as a single woman to so much as a...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news