The 60s spy sats also took photos on film that were ejected in re-entry capsules and captured in mid-air using an airplane. Really crazy stuff they came up with and I'm surprised it actually worked. Engineering chops they sure had and balls too because capturing a falling object from space is pretty dangerous.

Of course then there were the soviets launching entire nuclear reactors into orbit for a few months' worth of radar duty. Ok the US did one too but it was just one. All those Russian cores are still in orbit except the two that crashed.

Crazy times.