Mary Wallace Funk (born February 1, 1939) is an American aviator, commercial astronaut,[1][2] and Goodwill Ambassador.

[3][4] Funk became the oldest person to go to space on July 20, 2021, at age 82, flying on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft during its suborbital flight, breaking a record held by John Glenn for 23 years.

[4] Funk was also an accomplished outdoorswoman, spending time riding her bike or her horse, skiing, hunting, and fishing.

[9] The National Rifle Association of America sent her incredible shooting results to the president, Dwight Eisenhower, and he wrote back to her.

[10] Frustrated, Funk left high school early at the age of 16 and entered Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.

[9] Funk moved on to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education at Oklahoma State University.

[12] Her first job was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as a civilian flight instructor of noncommissioned and commissioned officers of the United States Army.

[3][4] In the fall of 1961, she accepted a job as a certified flight instructor, charter, and chief pilot with an aviation company in Hawthorne, California.

[14] In 1971, Funk earned the rating of flight inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), becoming the first woman to complete the FAA's General Aviation Operations Inspector Academy course, which includes Pilot Certification and Flight Testing procedures, handling accidents, and violations.

In 1973 she was promoted to FAA SWAP (Systems Worthiness Analysis Program) as a specialist, the first woman in the United States to hold this position.

In late November 1973, Funk again entered the FAA Academy to take courses involving air-taxi, charter, and aviation rental businesses.

[13] She made the discovery that people who die in small-plane crashes often have their jewelry, shoes, and clothes stripped off by the impact.

On August 16, 1975, she placed second in the Palms to Pines All Women Air Race from Santa Monica, California, to Independence, Oregon.

[15] To date, as a professional Flight Instructor she has soloed more than 700 students and put through 3,000 Private, Commercial, Multi-engine, Seaplane, Glider, Instrument, CFI, Al, and Air Transport Pilots.

[3] Funk and six other members of the Mercury 13 were invited guests of Collins at the launch, and NASA gave them a behind-the-scenes VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center complex.

[3] In July 2020 Funk published a memoir, Higher Faster Longer – My Life in Aviation and My Quest for Space Flight with author Loretta Hall.