Trailblazing aviator Wally Funk is heading to space at 82: "I'm going. That is my quest."
CBSN
Wally Funk has spent her life among the clouds. She had her first flight lesson at age nine, became a licensed pilot at 17 and has logged more than 19,000 flying hours.
But her lifelong dream of going to space eluded her until now. At the age of 82, Funk will be the oldest person to travel to space when she goes up on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket on Tuesday. Alongside her will be Jeff Bezos, Bezos' brother, Mark, and Oliver Daemon, an 18-year-old who will become the youngest person ever in space.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.