82-year-old Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, who spent six decades trying to reach space, will now join billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on the first crewed flight by his space company later this month.
Wally Funk underwent training in the 1960s but was denied the opportunity for space travel due to widespread prejudices against women at the time. However, thanks to Bezos, Ms Funk is being given a second chance to fulfil her dream. She will become the oldest person to ever fly to space.
Bezos invited Ms Funk as an “honoured guest”, sharing a video on Instagram of him revealing the news to her. She will join Mr Bezos, his brother Mark, and a currently anonymous individual who paid $28 million at auction for the seat.
The New Shephard passengers will be launched more than 100km above the Earth’s surface, where they will experience microgravity. The capsule will then use parachutes to return them to Earth. Overall, the venture is expected to last around 10 minutes.
