Wally Funk, the 82-year-old aviator who traveled to space and reversed decades of discrimination at NASA

The aviator Wally funk Not only did he become the oldest person to reach space on Tuesday, but also, at 82, got a rematch for his teammates Mercury 13, the project to transform thirteen women into astronauts finally abandoned by NASA in 1961.

On July 1, tycoon Jeff Bezos announced that Wally would be tasked with piloting his most ambitious project: the first manned space flight of his company Blue Origin that on Tuesday he managed to cross the Karman Line which marks the border between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

It was just under 11 minutes, but enough for Wally to get on a spaceship.

“In 1961, Wally Funk was at the top of his class on the Mercury 13,” Bezos wrote on his Instagram account, announcing that the woman would be part of the New Shepard ship’s crew. “Despite having completed preparation, the program was canceled and none of the 13 flew“continued the tycoon.

Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk was born February 1, 1939 in Las Vegas. In 1961, she decides to join the project led by the American doctor William Lovelace, the Mercury 13, with which he plans to make a group of thirteen women the first to reach space.

Like the rest of his companions, Wally’s grades were excellent, as were the physical tests.. However, NASA decided to cancel the program for one reason only: it was about women.

Jerrie Cobb and Janey Hart, two of them, They went to the United States Congress to raise the discrimination. Among the objections they heard, one of the members of Congress told him that being an astronaut, he could not raise his children properly.

Another speaker in Congress was John Glenn, a renowned pilot and the first American to orbit the Earth. “The fact that women are not in this field is a reality of our social order”Glenn said then.

In 1998, at age 77, Glenn became the oldest person to reach space by jumping on one of the space shuttle Discovery flights.

But it was Wally Funk who took the title from him. With an agility that did not differentiate her from her four companions in the New Shepard, the woman climbed the endless steps that led to the door of the ship, wearing her blue suit and a smile she couldn’t contain.

During all these years, Wally never gave up hope of being able to pilot a spaceship. And although in 1983 Sally Ride became the first astronaut to open doors for other women, Wally was never able to achieve his dream.

“I said I wanted to be an astronaut. But no one wanted to take me. I didn’t think I would ever go there,” Wally said in a video posted by Bezos on his social media. “No one waited that long”the businessman replied, “Welcome to the crew, Wally.”

With information from Telam.

SL