The soviet Zenit Spy satellite is essentially the Vostok spacecraft with the cosmonaut replaced by cameras. The Zenit design would fly over 650 times as a spy satellite up into the 1990's and spawn a few other science variants that flew for even longer.

And all these designs share the 2.3meter spherical return capsule in common, a design chosen by Sergei Korolev to satisfy Kruschev's demand to fly humans in space, and the military's desire for spy satellites.

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