jeff bezos
Bulletins

Jeff Bezos is taking Wally Funk to space: 'No one has waited longer'

Funk trained as part of a 1960s program but never got to go to space until the Amazon founder's retirement trip.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is going to space.

Photo: David Ryder / Getty Images

Jeff Bezos is taking veteran female aviator Wally Funk on his July 20 trip to space, the outgoing Amazon CEO announced on Instagram.

"In 1961, Wally Funk was at the top of her class as part of the 'Mercury 13' Woman in Space Program," Bezos wrote in a video post. "Despite completing their training, the program was cancelled, and none of the thirteen flew."

Funk, now 81, says in the video she has almost 20,000 flying hours accrued in her long aviation career, but no one would take her up to space despite her top performance in training.

Ben Brody

Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.

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