Space History Photo: Navy Frogmen Swim to Spacecraft to Begin Retrieval

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Deployed from the hovering helicopter, the U.S. Navy frogmen make contact with Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper waiting inside after the 1963 splashdown. (Image credit: NASA)

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, a U.S. Navy frogman, deployed from the hovering helicopter, swims next to the spacecraft and makes contact with Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper inside, as his fellow team members bring up the floatation gear to be attached to the spacecraft.

The main chute floats at top left, and the ejected reserve chute floats at the lower right of the spacecraft in the green dye area.

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

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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. Founded in 1958, NASA is a civilian space agency aimed at exploring the universe with space telescopes,  satellites, robotic spacecraft, astronauts and more. The space agency has 10 major centers based across the U.S. and launches robotic and crewed missions from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. It's astronaut corps is based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. To follow NASA's latest mission, follow the space agency on Twitter or any other social channel, of visit: nasa.gov.