Don’t Dismiss Wally Funk

I was horrified by the biased content of Preston Lerner’s article on Wally Funk and her quest for space (“The Unlaunchable Wally Funk,” Jan. 18). His depiction of Wally as a self-centered, egomaniacal astronaut-impersonator was so off-target that many people who know Wally’s true and pure nature were on the verge of massing into a lynch mob that had Lerner’s name on it. With the word “unlaunchable” you dismissed Wally’s and, by association, my company’s efforts to reach space, as though our private-sector space program were some impossible ladies’ teatime fantasy. We chose Wally as the most qualified pilot in the world to fly our first manned rocket missions.

Randa Milliron

Interorbital Systems

Mojave