She also died trying to break the land speed record. And she succeeded. At 522mph in a jet powered car, the front wheel failed and she went up in a fiery crash on the Alvord Desert in Oregon.

At the risk of romanticizing her death, it does feel poetic that her last act was to push the limits of woman, machine, and physics.

She was passionate about science to the end. I’d say godspeed, but even god had trouble keeping up.