Space's Oldest Traveler Wally Funk Passes Away at 87

Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk had garnered immense global attention by achieving the title of the oldest person to travel to space. At the age of 82, on 20 Temmuz 2021, she officially claimed this title with her historic journey aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. However, Funk, a tremendous source of inspiration in aviation and space history, passed away at the age of 87 in the Teksas state of Amerika Birleşik Devletleri. Officials did not share detailed information regarding the cause of her death. However, her close circle stated that in her final period, she was living a supported life in a care home after falling several times. Her passing caused deep sorrow in both the space community and the scientific world.

Funk's space journey broke the record of the oldest person to go to space, which belonged to John Glenn, who flew to space in 1998 at the age of 77. The real story behind this achievement was her participation in the female astronaut candidate program called Mercury 13 in the 1960s. Despite NASA not accepting female astronauts at that time, Funk exerted intense effort to prove herself in this special program. The determination she displayed during her space travel revealed how her years-long dreams finally came true. This journey went down in history as the ultimate reward for her lifelong perseverance and passion for science.

Wally Funk's career story clearly demonstrates the reflection of gender inequalities of the era in space programs. Despite successfully passing all the requirements set by NASA in the tests conducted under the Mercury 13 program, she was not sent to space solely because she was a woman. Due to the policies of the time, the program only accepted male candidates, and this situation created an insurmountable obstacle to Funk's great dreams from an early age. The most striking aspect of the matter was that Funk scored higher than even the famous astronaut John Glenn in some tests. Despite this, being blocked by the system revealed how excluded women were in scientific and exploratory endeavors of that period.

As years passed and policies changed, with NASA starting to accept female astronaut candidates in the 1970s, a new hope emerged for Funk. Unfortunately, this time she faced different bureaucratic obstacles, and her application was not evaluated. She was required to have a postgraduate degree or test pilot experience. Due to these shortcomings, she was never selected for the official NASA astronaut corps. These disappointments and successive rejections could have led her into despair. However, she managed to pull herself together after every failure and never compromised on her goal.

Despite all these hardships and exclusions, Funk never gave up throughout her life and continued to fight to increase the role of women in space sciences. She tirelessly campaigned for women to become more actively involved in aviation and space programs. She became a source of inspiration for countless young women in her region and around the world, paving the way for them. Her determined leadership and uncompromising stance laid the groundwork for a fairer and more inclusive scientific environment for future generations. Wally Funk will always be remembered not only as the oldest person to travel to space but also as a pioneer who defied hardships.