Joe Engle, X-15 rocket plane and space shuttle astronaut, dies at 91

A smiling man in a blue shirt sits inside the space shuttle, surrounded by equipment.

Joe Engle, the first astronaut to fly in space aboard two different winged vehicles, has died at the age of 91.

Engle's death on Wednesday (July 10) was announced in a note from his family shared publicly on Facebook.

"Blessed with natural piloting skills, General Joe, as he was known to many, was at his happiest in any cockpit," read the note. "He lived a fulfilled life as a proud American, U.S. Air Force pilot, astronaut and Kansas Jayhawk. His passing leaves a tremendous loss in our hearts."

Engle's first flight into space preceded him becoming a NASA astronaut by 10 months. As a test pilot in a joint U.S. Air Force and NASA-run research program, Engle flew the X-15 rocket plane above 50 miles (80 kilometers), qualifying him for his astronaut wings, on June 29, 1965.

Test pilot Joe Engle stands with the North American X-15A-2 rocket plane at Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1965. (Image credit: NASA)