A Western Ambassador called it "Saddam's postwar re-entry vehicle into regional politics."
Multiple re-entry vehicles also can help to counter missile defenses.
"The idea is to make the cost of killing a re-entry vehicle about one or two million dollars."
Subsequently, research proceeded towards developing manned lenticular re-entry vehicles during the 1960s and '70s.
Why did the lander end up looking like a spider, while the re-entry vehicle had the shape of a gumdrop?
He came up with the perfect re-entry vehicle - the Mercury capsule.
Failure of the Cosmos-1 to separate also resulted in the loss of the secondary payload, a new inflatable re-entry vehicle.
The satellite weighed 1500 kg, and had a single re-entry vehicle in which exposed film was returned to earth for a mid-air aircraft recovery.
But the first spacecraft malfunctioned, and during an attempted early return the parachute wrapped around the re-entry vehicle.
North Korea has yet to demonstrate the ability to produce a re-entry vehicle that works.
