Project Mercury was the first US mission putting men into space from 1958 to 1963. (Image used for representational purpose)
A UFO researcher claims to have spotted an extra-terrestrial spacecraft in a 55-year-old NASA photograph from the early days of America's space programme.
Scott C Waring, who lives in Taiwan, said he found an unexplained object in the image taken in 1960 by an unmanned probe sent out during NASA's Mercury project.
Mr Waring, who was formerly affiliated with the US Air Force at SAC base, believes the discovery could mean alien observers have been keeping an eye on mankind's missions into space from
the beginning.
The picture was captured by space capsule Mercury-Redstone 1A on December 19, 1960, 'express.co.uk' reported.
"I found a disk in some photos of the Mercury mission. The mission took place in December of 1960, and why wouldn't aliens be interested in watching a historical moment in human history?" wrote Waring on his blog 'UFO Sightings Daily'.
"Especially since the capsule was unmanned, there were no worries that they would be seen. It's actually the Earth in the background and the UFO is in space observing the Mercury capsule," Mr Waring wrote.
Project Mercury was the first US mission putting men into space from 1958 to 1963.
There were also six manned space flights, including a February 1962 mission when John Glenn became the first person to orbit Earth and one in May 1961 when Alan Shepherd was the first American into space.
Earlier this year, Mr Waring claimed to have seen two mysterious glowing objects in a photo from a Gemini mission in 1966.