Wally Funk

Wally Funk
Wally Funk in 1995
Born	(1939-02-01) February 1, 1939 (age 78) Las Vegas, New Mexico
Known for	One of the Mercury 13

Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk (born February 1, 1939) is an American aviator and Goodwill Ambassador. Funk was one of the Mercury 13. Funk was the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the first civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the first Federal Aviation Agency inspector.

Funk was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1939 and grew up in Taos, New Mexico. Her parents owned a variety store. The family had a collection of artwork from artists at the Taos art colony. The artists would trade artwork to pay off their debt at the store. When Funk was five years old, she jumped off the roof of a barn in a Superman costume. She thought the costume would make her fly instead of falling into a haystack. She did her first solo flight at age 16 and enrolled in the aviation program at Stephens College, which she completed first in her class in 1958. Next, she completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education at Oklahoma State University, along with additional aviation instrumentation and instruction ratings. At 20 years old, Funk became a professional aviator.

Funk always wanted to be an astronaut. Funk volunteered to be a part of the Women in Space Program in 1961, becoming one of the Mercury 13. Funk, like the other participants in the program, was put through rigorous physical and mental testing. In one test, volunteers were placed in sensory deprivation tanks. Funk was in the tank, without hallucinating, for 10 hours and 35 minutes, a record. She passed her tests and was qualified to go into space. She scored higher than John Glenn did in his testing and was the third best in the Mercury 13 program. Due to sexism and other circumstances, the program was canceled before the women were to undergo their last test.