Two Soviet government decrees authorized the parallel development of a manned spacecraft (project 3K), a simplified prototype (1K), and a photoreconnaissance satellite (2K). All with the same design (project OD-2). All these projects received the additional designation Vostok (Est in Russian). They are therefore, respectively, Vostok-3, Vostok-1, Vostok-2. Vostok-2 later became Zenit-2 and the subsequent Zenit-4. The projects were managed by OKB-1 (later known as RKK Energiya). The Zenit’s sophisticated optical system would later also be used in the Luna lunar probes, for example Luna 3, to photograph the far side of our natural satellite. The camera was developed by Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, which simultaneously also developed a commercial camera (my father had one at the time…) called Zenit, like the secret program.
