Trailblazing pilot Wally Funk is finally going to space

It has taken more than five decades for the accomplished pilot to achieve her goal, and when Funk blasts off on Blue Origin’s rocket Tuesday, she’ll be hoping more women will follow in her footsteps.

Higher, faster, longer. That motto has been keeping Wally Funk going her whole life, and ultimately led her to achieve her lifelong dream: going to space. The trailblazing female pilot has always dreamed of becoming an astronaut and was denied the job in the 1960s due to her gender. That will all change on Tuesday as she straps into a Blue Origin capsule and rockets into the cosmos. Billionaire Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, along with his brother, Mark Bezos, and Oliver Daemen, a student from the Netherlands, will round out the crew of four passengers on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket during its first-ever crew launch.