Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk, 82, finally achieved her dream on Tuesday when she launched aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket to just beyond the edge of space, and the space icon hopes to return as soon as possible.
At a press briefing following the launch, Funk was asked how it felt to be inside the capsule and the 82-year-old snapped out of her chair and let out a celebratory 'woot!'
'It was a great time and I want to go again and fast,' she continued.
Funk told the audience in West Texas that she was 'waiting a long time to finally get up there.'
'I have done a lot of astronaut training and I could always beat the guys cause I was always stronger and did everything on my own.'
Following Funk's speech, Bezos chimed in and said: 'We can confirm that Wally once again in training outperformed the men.'
Funk joined Amazon found Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen 66 miles above the surface, where they spent around four minutes in zero gravity while feasting their eyes on views that were out of this world.
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Funk (right) joined Amazon found Jeff Bezos (second from right), his brother Mark (second from left) and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen (left) 66 miles above the surface, where they spent around four minutes in zero gravity while feasting their eyes on views that were out of this world
Funk was the 'honored' guest of this mission and has wait 60 years for her chance to leave Earth.
She trained to be an astronaut in 1961 as part of the Mercury 13 project - a group of 13 American women who underwent the same training as NASA's Mercury 7 men but were not selected for a mission because of their gender.
However, on Tuesday morning Funk's dream came true and the aviator could be heard rejoicing inside the capsule as it climbed toward space and all the way back to the ground.
The crew launched from Blue Origin's 'Launch Site One' in Van Horn, Texas at 9:12 EDT.
At a press briefing following the launch, Funk was asked how it felt to be in the capsule and the 82-year-old snapped out of her chair and let out a celebratory 'woot!' 'It was a great time and I want to go again and fast,' she continued
Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk, 82, finally completed her path to the stars on Tuesday when she launched aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket to just beyond the edge of space. Here she is stepping out of the capsule after the mission
Funk was the 'honored' guest of this mission and has waited 60 years for her chance to leave Earth
The crew launched from Blue Origin's 'Launch Site One' in Van Horn, Texas at 9:12 EDT. Blue Origin reached an altitude of about 66 miles , more than 10 miles higher than Branson´s July 11 ride
Blue Origin reached an altitude of about 66 miles , more than 10 miles higher than Branson´s July 11 ride.
The 60-foot booster accelerated to Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound to get the capsule high enough, before separating and landing upright.
On landing Jeff Bezos described it as the 'best day ever' when asked for a 'status check' by capcom.
They experienced weightlessness for about four minutes, before falling back to Earth to land in Texas.
While the crew were enjoying their time in space, the booster returned to the landing pad for use on another flight.
During the weightlessness time you could clearly hear Funk shouting 'it is dark up here', followed by a status check call from each of the four, with Jeff Bezos having to remind Wally and Oliver to
