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NASA required astronauts to hold an engineering degree. This time, it wasn’t Wally’s gender that held her back. In her early 40s, Wally applied to the training program four times. When the space agency announced the new policy, Wally decided she wasn’t too old to go to space. NASA did not admit women to its astronaut training program until 1978. From left: Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Rutley, Myrtle Cagle, and Bernice Steadman. NASA Seven members of the Mercury 13 watching a 1995 shuttle launch. Wally Funk Knew She Would Be A Pilot Young Instead, she had to find her own way - and flew to space with Jeff Bezos on his New Shepard rocket on July 20, making her the oldest person to ever cross the threshold of Earth’s gravity. Wally Funk broke the record – she floated, alone, for 10 hours and 35 minutes. Finally, the researchers pulled Wally from the tank as the pilot promised she could go longer. The six-hour mark passed and Wally continued to float peacefully. The researchers behind the test assumed no one could withstand an isolation tank for more than six hours. None of the men lasted longer than three hours. Rather than floating in a dark tank of water, the men sat in a dark room – with a pen and paper to keep them from getting bored. To convince NASA, Wally knew she would need to outlast the Mercury astronauts. Wally wanted to prove that women could become astronauts in an era before NASA accepted female trainees. The 22-year old had to show that she could withstand the remoteness of space.
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In 1961, pilot Wally Funk donned a one-piece bathing suit and entered a pitch black isolation tank. Don Cravens/Getty Images Pilot Wally Funk sits in the cockpit of an AT-6 training plane.