One of the NASA's most respected test pilots and astronauts, William H. Dana, died at 83, after suffering from a long-term illness. On Tuesday, May 6, Dana died at an assisted living facility in suburban Phoenix, said NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.

In his long and illustrious career, Dana logged more than 8,000 hours in over 60 different aircrafts ranging from helicopters and sailplanes to the hypersonic X-15. In 2005, he was honored with civilian astronaut wings as at that time NASA did not award astronaut wings to its pilots.

Dana was born in Pasadena, California and grew up in Bakersfield and it was then he fell in love with aircraft. "I remember seeing B-25s and P-38s flying over at the start of World War II and there was something very glorious and exciting about the warbirds, and I was attracted to it", said Dana in a 1997 interview.

His love for aircrafts remained intact and he pursued his passion and became an Air Force officer and was a fighter pilot in the Korean War. Later, he completed an aeronautical engineering degree from the University of Southern California. In 1958, he was hired as an aeronautical research engineer at NASA's High-Speed Flight Station in the Mojave Desert. Next year, he became a test pilot.

He faced many dangers, but accepted all of them as a part of his profession. He gave up flying after he suffered a heart attack and in 1993, he became the center's chief engineer. In 1998, he retired and did voluntary work in the center's history office, shared NASA.