What was the goal of Project Gemini?

Answer 1

Gemini was originally considered an extension of the Mercury missions, and was originally just designated Mercury Mark II. However, the purpose of the Gemini and follow on Apollo missions was to gain experience in space and test the technologies that would take us to the moon and back, as mandated by President John F. Kennedy.

Answer 2

The purpose of the Gemini project was to enable NASA to practice the orbital rendezvous maneuver that was going to be essential to the later Apollo missions. The "Man to the Moon" project was laid out in three basic steps.

1. Could a human being survive in space and perform useful tasks? The Mercury missions proved that a man could.

2. Could a human perform tasks OUTSIDE of the spacecraft, and could they dock with another ship? With only one astronaut, it was too dangerous for the sole Mercury crewman to leave the capsule, but with two people, one person could exit for a "spacewalk" as "extra-vehicular activity" was colloquially known, and have the other pilot to help him if he got in trouble. And the Gemini astronauts had no difficulty docking their capsules together, or with other rockets. (Bear in mind that the Gemini spacecraft computers were substantially LESS powerful than a cheap cell phone handset these days. They did it all BY HAND.)

3. Could men go to the moon, and return? Yes. But an essential part of that was the orbital docking; without that, nothing else would have been possible.