Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the U.S. Air Force’s most decorated test pilots, died Monday. He was 97.

Yeager’s death was announced on his official Twitter account in a tweet attributed to his wife Victoria Scott D’Angelo.

“It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET,” the tweet said. “An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever.”

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Yeager’s death “a tremendous loss to our nation.”

“Gen. Yeager’s pioneering and innovative spirit advanced America’s abilities in the sky and set our nation’s dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age. He said, ‘You don’t concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done,’” Bridenstine said in a statement.