{"id":3383,"date":"2026-07-10T16:35:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3383"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:35:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:35:34","slug":"aviation-trailblazer-wally-funk-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3383","title":{"rendered":"Aviation trailblazer Wally Funk dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GRAPEVINE, Texas (CNN) – Wally Funk, the female pilot who famously went to space with Jeff Bezos as the oldest woman in space and a trailblazer in aviation, has died at the age of 87.<\/p>\n

Read more 3 more people arraigned in reflecting pool vandalism<\/a><\/p>\n

The city of Grapevine, Texas, announced that she died Wednesday night in her home.<\/p>\n

Funk was known to break barriers.<\/p>\n

She was the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.<\/p>\n

She trained for NASA\u2019s \u201cWomen in Space Program\u201d in 1961, but was never allowed to go to space.<\/p>\n

Read more How to save money on your AC bills during extreme heat in Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

That is, until 2021, when at the age of 82, she flew on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket as an \u201chonored guest.\u201d She was the oldest woman to fly to space.<\/p>\n

About the trip to space, Funk said she \u201cloved every minute of it\u201d and wished it had lasted longer.<\/p>\n

Read more 2 Arizonans move into Big Brother 28 house; how to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wally Funk, the female pilot who famously went to space with Jeff Bezos as the oldest woman in space and a trailblazer in aviation, has died at the age of 87.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAviation trailblazer Wally Funk dies at 87 - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aviation trailblazer Wally Funk dies at 87 - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wally Funk, the female pilot who famously went to space with Jeff Bezos as the oldest woman in space and a trailblazer in aviation, has died at the age of 87.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T16:35:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Aviation trailblazer Wally Funk dies at 87\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T16:35:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383\"},\"wordCount\":186,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b3f877d48423d7733c3ed2a146f9df15.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3383\",\"name\":\"Aviation trailblazer Wally Funk dies at 87 - 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