page_title: Wally Funk
hierarchical_section_title: Wally Funk
caption_attribution_description: English: Exuberant and thrilled to be at the Kennedy Space Center, seven women who once aspired to fly into space stand outside Launch Pad 39B neat the Space Shuttle Discovery, poised for liftoff on the first flight of 1995. They are members of the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs, also known as the "Mercury 13"), a group of women who trained to become astronauts for Americas first human spaceflight program back in the early 1960s. Although this FLATs effort was never an official NASA program, their commitment helped pave the way for the milestone Eileen Collins set: becoming the first female Shuttle pilot. Visiting the space center as invited guests of STS-63 Pilot Eileen Collins are (from left): Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Rutley, Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman.This is an edit of the original image, cropped to show only Wally Funk.
context_page_description: Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk is an American aviator and Goodwill Ambassador. She was one of the Mercury 13, and was the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the first civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the first Federal Aviation Agency inspector.
context_section_description: Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk (born February 1, 1939) is an American aviator and Goodwill Ambassador. She was one of the Mercury 13, and was the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the first civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the first Federal Aviation Agency inspector.
caption: Wally Funk in 1995
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