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Last Mercury 13 Astronaut, Oldest Woman in Space Dies

7/10/2026

41 8 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Wally Funk, the last surviving Mercury 13 member and record-holding oldest woman in space, died at 87 in Grapevine, Texas.
She logged 30,000 flight hours, trained more than 3,000 pilots, and became the first female flight instructor at Fort Sill, FAA inspector and NTSB investigator.
At 82, she flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-16 with Jeff Bezos, becoming the oldest woman in space and the sole Mercury 13 astronaut.

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Story summary

Wally Funk, the last surviving Mercury 13 member and record-holding oldest woman in space, died at 87 in Grapevine, Texas.
She logged 30,000 flight hours, trained more than 3,000 pilots, and became the first female flight instructor at Fort Sill, FAA inspector and NTSB investigator.
At 82, she flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-16 with Jeff Bezos, becoming the oldest woman in space and the sole Mercury 13 astronaut.