honored a trailblazing citizen down main street. last month, wally funk defiedavo space, living out a dream more than six decades in the making. she shared the inside story with her friend and ours, doug dunbar, of the cbs station ktvt in dallas-fort worth. congratulations. i hope you re jumping for joy. reporter: the letters and cards being sent to america s newest space hero haven t stopped. there are all these letters. they re all written to they re all written to me. no phone number. i can t call back. reporter: would you call them back? sure, the ones that have, you bet! thank you very much for your card! reporter: in selecting funk, amazon founder jeff bezos chose an aviation legend who has taught over 3,000 people to fly, first-ever female inspector for the f.a.a. and the n.t.s.b., and an original member of the mercury 13, a group of women in the 1960s, who completed the same astronaut testing as the men.
0ur correspondent, sophie long, reports from texas. boarding his 60 foot suborbital rocket. he was not nervous, he said, just excited. this was notjust about realising a lifelong dream, but expanding his ever growing empire beyond the grip of gravity. with him on this first fully autonomous flight, three other civilians. his brother, mark bezos, 18 year old dutch student 0liver daemen, and 82 year old trailblazing aviator wally funk. one of mercury 13, a group of women who went through astronaut testing and training beforejeff bezos was born, but never made it to space until now. mission control: five, four, three, two, one. i as you can hear, the reusable rocket, carrying its first passengers and paying customer is on its way to space.
us on new day. thank you, john. up next, the western wildfires, so huge even the east coast can see the effects. and wally funk ends her 60-year wait to get into space. we re going to talk to a friend of hers who actually went through astronaut testing just like she did back in the 1906s. you don t want to miss this. when technology is easier to use. barriers don t stand a chance.
first female inspector for the faa. and in the 1960s, she was the youngest member of the mercury 13. the first group of women put through rigorous astronaut testing. tests that i had, i can do it - and i can do it just as well as anybody else. she says she passed all those exams better than faster than any of the men who later went on to become nasa s first astronauts. but the mercury 13 never made it into space. the program was canceled. i never had any bad feelings. i knew i was going. sometime i will go. and now, after nearly 20,000 hours of flight time and 82 years on this planet, it s finally happening. we re going to fly you up into space on the very first flight. that s your reporter: funk is set to join amazon ceo jeff bezos on the first human flight on his blue origin rocket later this month. you re going to be an astronaut. finally! bezos and the blue origin
the first female inspector for the faa, and in the 1960s, she was the youngest member of the mercury 13. the first group of women put through rigorous astronaut testing. i feel like after all those tests i had, i can do it and i can do it just as well as anybodies. she says she passed all those examines better than faster than any of the men who later went on to become nasa s first astronauts. but the mercury 13 never made it into space. the program was canceled. i never had any bad feelings. i knew i was going. sometime i will go. and now, after nearly 20,000 hours of flight time and 82 years on this planet, it s finally happening. fly you up into space on the very first flight. that s your reporter: funk is set to join amazon ceo jeff bay southeast on the first human flight on his blue origin rocket later this month. you re going to be an