Between 1961 and 1965 the ability of the Rogallo wing (also called "Parawing") to descend a payload such as the Gemini space capsule safely from high altitude to ground was studied.

[3][4] Under a directive by Paul Bikle, NASA engineer Charles Richard in 1961–1962 designed the collapsible four-tube Rogallo wing used in the Paresev.

The Paresev series included wing configurations that were tightly foldable from the nose plate for easy transport, using initially a cloth sail and later one of Dacron.

The evaluations conducted at the NASA Flight Research Center, in conjunction with the aerodynamic investigations in wind tunnels, produced favorable results.

The Paresev 1A and 1B were unpowered; the "fuselage" was an open framework fabricated of welded SAE 4130 steel tubing, called a "space frame".

It is unknown how many times Armstrong, Hetzel, and Slayton flew.The Paresev completed nearly 350 flights during a research program that ran from 1962 until 1964.

[14][15] Using the fully flexible parawing or the tube-stiffened paraglider of the Paresev 1A, 1B, 1C as an alternate to spacecraft recovery was deemed too unreliable upon unfolding so round parachutes for water landings were used instead.