Wally Funk, who made history by traveling to space at the age of 82, passed away on July 8 (local time).

CNN reported on July 9 that Funk died at her home in Grapevine, Texas, at the age of 87.

In the 1960s, Funk was one of the 13 women who passed the tests for the Mercury 13, a private program to train female astronauts for NASA.

However, the program was abruptly canceled, and because astronauts were restricted to military men at the time, she was unable to fulfill her dream of going to space.

She later built a distinguished career, serving as the first female air safety inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Funk's dream of reaching space was finally realized in 2021.

She was named an honorary guest for the first crewed flight of Blue Origin's space tourism rocket, New Shepard, achieving her dream of spaceflight at the age of 82.

After her 11-minute journey to the Kármán line, an altitude of 100 km considered the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, Funk expressed her joy, saying, "I loved every second of it. I wish it could have been longer."

At the time, Funk set the record as the oldest person to travel to space.

Even after William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek, traveled to space at age 90 the following year, and Ed Dwight did so in 2024 at age 90, she maintained her record as the oldest woman to have traveled to space.

Blue Origin paid tribute to her on X (formerly Twitter) on the same day, stating, "(Funk) was a pioneer in every sense of the word."

(Photo: AP/Yonhap News)