The woman who wasn’t allowed to become an astronaut but eventually became the oldest person to fly in space five years ago has died at age 87. The New York Times notes that Wally Funk was among a group of about two dozen women considered for space travel in the early 1960s and became the only one to pass all tests. Seven men, though, were chosen to be NASA’s first astronauts “because the space agency wasn’t prepared to risk sending women into space.” Funk later became the first female inspector for the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
