No, but it was a proxy to something that was a "big problem": having an enemy that had (or was very near to having) the ability to insert dirigible, manned weap

No, but it was a proxy to something that was a "big problem": having an enemy that had (or was very near to having) the ability to insert dirigible, manned weapons (think about the era) into essential indefensible areas. Mercury, Gemini and Apollo may have had a feel-good element and some incidental scientific co-projects, but they were as much about military deterrence and public confidence as anything else. (Do you remember nuclear raid drills? I do.)