CLEVELAND, Ohio -- At 82, veteran aviator Wally Funk became the oldest person in space Tuesday January 20, 2021 on board the successful maiden manned flight of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin ‘New Shepard’ rocket and capsule along with Bezos and two other civilians, Mark Bezos and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.
Funk broke the late John Glenn’s record of being the oldest in space, set in 1998 when at 77 he flew on a space shuttle Discovery mission. It marks the second time Funk has bested the legendary Glenn. In 1961 Funk at 21 was the youngest member of the ‘Mercury 13,′ a group of female pilots who went through the same training and testing as male pilots training for NASA. Funk was told she had bested Glenn in some tests.
Although the ‘Women in Space’ program doing the training was led by NASA’s Astronaut physician, the private program ended and the women were not deemed eligible to fly in space in part because NASA at the time only recruited military test pilots to be Astronauts and none of the women met that qualification.
Funk would go on to achieve several female aviation firsts before becoming the oldest to fly into space. She became the first female FAA inspector and first female Air Safety Investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Funk has logged more than 19,000 piloting hours and has taught thousands to fly.
The female aviation firsts by Funk made it all the more fitting that Jeff Bezos carried in the capsule the goggles aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart wore when she became the female to make a solo flight across the Atlantic.
Another Ohio connection besides breaking John Glenn’s mark, also carried on board the Blue Origin capsule was a piece of canvas from the Wright brothers first plane.
In the post-flight press conference, Bezos also previewed Blue Origin’s future rocket developments and missions that include a rocket named after Glenn that’s so large it can fit the ‘New Shepard’ rocket into its cargo hold. The Glenn rocket is being designed to orbit earth and fly deeper into space.
“I like to think that if Amelia were here, she would be very proud of Wally. Thank you, Amelia, wherever you are -we hope you’re watching all of this,” said Jeff Bezos at the post-flight press conference.
You can bet Earhart would be proud of Wally Funk and so would the Wright brothers, Alan Shepard and John Glenn, along with admiring what everyone involved with the Blue Origin flight and the earlier Richard Branson Virgin Galactic flight have accomplished and are advancing for civilian space travel.
Yes, they were joyrides. Joyrides for herstory and history.
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July 21, 2021 at 06:02PM
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Blue Origin joyride for herstory and history: Darcy cartoon - cleveland.com
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