Octogenarian, II

I'm really happy for Wally Funk.

And what's her secret to staying motivated after witnessing a lifetime of historic milestones in space? Was she ever disillusioned since her own journey began six decades ago?
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For 60 years Funk sustained her desire to fly into space. In 1961, she was the youngest volunteer of a cohort training women to become astronauts. That was several years before the first manned mission to space in 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the moon.

In the meantime, Funk was a pilot and flight instructor with close to 20,000 flight hours to her credit. She even bought a ticket for Virgin Galactic, which is scheduled to launch the world's first flight in space tourism on July 11.

At the invitation of Jeff Bezos, Funk, 82, will make history before the world as a founding passenger of the space-tourism rival Blue Origin.

Bravo, Wally! See you July 20.

A comment on "Jeff Bezos selects 82-year-old woman who trained to be an astronaut six decades ago to join him in space" (B. Sapienza).

"Open Cockpit Day 2018" by Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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