It has recently been announced that the aviator Wally Funk will soon go to space again on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, more than 60 years after she expressed interest in becoming an astronaut in the very early days of spaceflight.

Funk was one of 13 female aviators who passed all the required exams for permission to enter NASA's astronaut corps. She was also one of the protestors who lobbied for the federal government to send women into space. NASA and Congress responded by dishonoring her request, and women were not permitted to become U.S. astronauts for over a decade. Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly in space in 1983.

If all goes accordingly, on July 20, Wally Funk will spend four minutes in outer space.

"I'll love every second of it," Funk said, regarding thoughts about her flight in a video that was released by Blue Origin. "I can hardly wait." Funk was already a well-qualified aviator in 1961, and she has never lost her zeal for flying.

"I've been flying forever and I have 19,600 flying hours," Funk additionally stated in the video, as well as providing her experience of teaching more than 3,000 individuals how to fly. "Everything that the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has, I've got the license for."

Funk also recalls the discouragement she experienced when NASA began to exclude women from the astronaut corps, in spite of the high marks of the 13 women on the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs), as well as her own excellent results.

"They told me that I had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys," Funk said. "I didn't think that I would ever get to go up."

She is flying because Jeff Bezos, creator of the Blue Origin, has invited her. Bezos will also be a passenger on the flight, as well as his brother Mark, and the unnamed purchaser of a $28 million seat, which will be auctioned in June. The flight will likely be an adventurous one, and a new milestone for women from a historical perspective.

Wally Funk will serve as an inspiration to women to follow their dreams, regardless of social expectations that have been placed upon them, and to pursue their ambitions, no matter what the cost.