An old woman escorts Bezos to space

accompany Wali Vank; The 82-year-old, founder of "Blue Origin" Jeff Bezos, is on a tourist trip to space organized by the company on July 20, making her the oldest among those who have had the opportunity to travel to space, according to what the company reported today (Thursday).

Wali became the fourth passenger in the first manned flight of the space tourism company, according to the French Press Agency.

In the sixties of the twentieth century, Wally Funk participated in a special program entitled "Mercury 13", which included 13 women who underwent the same tests that were conducted for males selected in the "Mercury" program implemented by NASA to send the first American astronauts into space.

"They told me I got the job done better and faster than any man," Wally Funk said, in a video posted to Jeff Bezos' Instagram account at the time of the announcement. "I said I wanted to be an astronaut, but no one wanted to hire me," she said. I never thought I would go up there one day.”

"Nobody (like Wally Funk) has waited this long," Jeff Bezos wrote in his post. He added, "Welcome to the crew... Wally."

Wally Funk became the first woman to hold a job as an inspector at the US Aviation Agency, and on her record as a pilot she has 19,600 flying hours.

The launch date of the "New Shepard" missile of the "Blue Origin" company was set for July 20 from a desert in West Texas, and the capsule separated from it at an altitude of about 75 km, and continued to rise to exceed the "Karman Line" located at an altitude of 100 km, which represents the boundary between the atmosphere terrestrial and space.

Passengers will be able to swim in zero gravity for 3 minutes and observe the curvature of the planet.

In the meantime, the missile returns downward and also gently descends vertically on a runway, then the capsule begins a free fall process to return to the ground, with 3 large parachutes and brake missiles slowing down before landing in the desert.