Re: Cosmos
In the 60's and 70's, there were every so often radio reports about the launch of a Cosmos satellite going to such and such orbital or interplanetary or "suborbital" paths.
It was easy to see a failure in a suborbital trajectory but the others were very much a mystery.
Sometimes they were a first.
But their desigation was very misleading as we had no clue what they were meant for, unless they were successful.
Raoul