Wally Funk, a North Texas Aviation Pioneer, Has Died

Wally Funk, a famous pilot and space traveler who lived in Grapevine, Texas, has died at the age of 87. The city of Grapevine announced on Thursday that she passed away peacefully on the evening of Wednesday, July 8, 2026, with family and friends by her side. Funk spent more than 70 years flying planes and fighting for women's right to be part of aviation and space exploration. She is remembered as one of the most important female pilots in American history.

Funk was born on February 1, 1939, and showed a love of flying from an early age. Over her lifetime, she trained more than 3,000 pilots and logged more than 30,000 hours of flight time. She held several groundbreaking jobs that no woman had held before her. She became the first female flight instructor at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

In 1961, Funk was chosen for a special program called Mercury 13, also known as the First Lady Astronaut Trainees program. The women in this program went through the same tough physical and mental tests that NASA's Mercury 7 astronauts had to pass. Funk performed so well that she outscored many of the male astronauts on several tests. Even so, women were not allowed to become NASA astronauts at that time, and her dream of going to space was put on hold for decades.

That dream finally came true in July 2021, when Funk was 82 years old. She flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, joining Jeff Bezos and a small crew on a trip to the edge of space. The flight made her the oldest woman ever to travel to space, earning her a Guinness World Record. She also became the only member of the original Mercury 13 group to ever reach space.

Funk described the experience with joy and excitement. As the rocket lifted off, she looked out her window and said, 'Wow! There goes the ground!' The capsule eventually reached a speed of more than 2,500 miles per hour — more than three times the speed of sound. Funk spent three minutes floating in weightlessness, and she called it 'the greatest feeling' because nothing was holding her back.

Grapevine City Councilwoman Duff O'Dell shared her thoughts on Funk's life and legacy. 'Her courage, resilience and groundbreaking achievements continue to inspire young people — especially girls — to pursue careers in science, aviation, and space exploration,' O'Dell said. Grapevine is a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, located about 23 miles northwest of Dallas. The city said it was proud to call Wally Funk one of its own.

Funk received many awards and honors throughout her long career. In 2024, she was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. She was also honored by the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame and the Mercury 13 Hall of Fame. After her death, she will be posthumously inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame at the New Mexico Museum of Space History, meaning she will receive the honor even though she has passed away.