By Karen Sharp
Photo: Getty Images
Wally Funk an 82 year old woman, set out on a space expedition and completed her astronaut training in 1961. She 21 years old and was apart of the "Mercury 13" Woman In Space Program making her one of the youngest of 13 women. She had passed the rigorous tests that were conducted for the Mercury Seven male astronauts in NASA's program, which ultimately sent Americans to space between 1961 and 1963. Unfortunately, the program was ultimately cut short and the 13 women were denied the chance to become astronauts due to their gender.
Since life does work in mysterious ways an opportunity for Wally to go to space presented itself 60 years later. On Thursday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took to Instagram and announced that the aerospace pioneer will accompany him aboard the New Shepard rocket, his company Blue Origin's first crewed flight into space. "No one has waited longer," wrote Bezos who stepped down as the E-commerce giant's chief on July 5.