Space History Photo: Project Mercury Retro and Posigrade Package

The Mercury vehicle prepared for re-entry. (Image credit: Paul Riedel )

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, the Retro and Posigrade Package for the Mercury spacecraft is fitted on Sept. 16, 1960. This was used to de-orbit the spacecraft at the end of mission.

The National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) was a precursor to NASA. The NACA was created by Congress in 1915.

Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).

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NASA Archives

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. government agency in charge of the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.