STEALTH

Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. It allowed the United States to catch up and overcome the lead in human spaceflight capability the Soviet Union had obtained in the early years of the Space Race.

Gemini tested mission endurance up to just under 14 days, longer than the eight days required for a round trip to the Moon.

It also executed methods of performing extra-vehicular activity (EVA) and the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve rendezvous and docking with another spacecraft, thereby preparing and focusing the Apollo missions for their prime mission with critical playbooks, operations and techniques now tested by the Gemini program .