NASA got ace’d out of this one – 1st 30-day mission was was a DoD PROJECT plain and simple! NASA did the capsule (Gemini) guidance and computer telecommunications ONLY! NASA was barely 2 yrs created in July 1958.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ – Millions remember the countdowns, launchings, splashdowns and parades as the U.S. raced the USSR to the Moon in the 1960s, but few know that both superpowers also ran parallel covert space programs to launch military astronauts on spying missions.
