An 82-year-old woman trained to be an astronaut sixty years ago. Now she's going to space with Jeff Bezos
CNN
After a half-century of waiting, Wally Funk — who trained for NASA's Mercury program but was denied the opportunity to go to space — is finally getting her time amongst the stars. She's been selected by the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, to accompany him, his brother, and an as-yet unknown auction winner on a suborbital trip on July 20th.
Blue Origin announced Thursday that the 82-year-old will take the fourth spot on the inaugural crewed flight of its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft, alongside Blue Origin founder Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and the winner of an auction who forked over $28 million for the opportunity. (The auction winner's name has yet to be announced.) Funk will fly on New Shepard as an "honored guest," according to a post on Bezos' Instagram, which also shows Bezos revealing to Funk that she will join the mission. She then beams and yells excitedly.More Related News
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