Project Gemini was a transitional step between the pioneering Mercury Program and the actual landing a man on the moon. Its success was critical to achieving the goal of reaching the Moon and was not without its problems and difficulties. The main objectives of the ten Gemini missions spanning a period of 20 months from 1965 to 1966, were to learn how to "fly" a spacecraft by 1) maneuvering it in orbit and by 2) rendezvousing and docking with other vehicles, which were essential skills for the later Apollo missions. One of these missions, Gemini VIII, nearly killed the man who would go on to be the first person to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong.

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