Space is in the news here in New Mexico this weekend. Tomorrow near the town of Truth or Consequences, Richard Branson's launch of Virgin Galactic Holding Inc's space tourism flight is scheduled to happen.
Also,
Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviator who grew up in Taos, will become the oldest person in history to launch into suborbital space this month when she hitches a ride with Amazon business magnate Jeff Bezos and two other passengers.
John Miller reports,
Bezos invited Funk, who now lives in Roanoke, Texas, to join the historic mission after learning she was among the “Mercury 13,” a group of women who underwent astronaut testing in the early 1960s but were never allowed to be part of a mission into space.
In high school, she was prohibited from taking mechanical drawing and auto mechanics courses because she was a woman. She dropped out early to enter Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., where she became the top-rated member of the “Flying Susies.” She graduated in 1958 with her pilot’s license and an associate degree.
During her training, Funk set a record in a sensory deprivation tank, lasting 10 hours and 35 minutes and scoring higher than U.S. astronaut John Glenn.
Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon on Monday before his company’s rocket, New Shepard, counts down for takeoff in Van Horn, Texas, on July 20, the same date the Apollo 11 moon mission left the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in 1969.
Read more here: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-mexico-born-aviator-headed-for-space-finally/article_46e955ac-db50-11eb-ad5d-63fb6910e8e8.html
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