This is sort of how the Buran "Soviet Space Shuttle" got built. Soviet leaders saw the American space shuttle and basically told their engineers "we need one to

This is sort of how the Buran "Soviet Space Shuttle" got built. Soviet leaders saw the American space shuttle and basically told their engineers "we need one too", despite the engineers knowing there was no point (much of the Shuttle's design stemmed from an Air Force requirement that it be able to launch on a polar orbit, go around the planet once and land back on American territory, which required the wings for that much cross-range capability. The USSR didn't have that problem due to how much longitude Russia spans; but the leaders only saw the finished product, not the politics that went into it.)