Re: Up here in space, I’m looking down on you
US and others have plenty of satellites for that. Better equipped for the task and there's no need to bring them back on earth to retrieve the pictures for quite some time already.
I expect that their spy sats do need refuelling from time to time. A small vehicle carrying fuel supplies (and perhaps other parts if the sat design allows a robot to easily replace modules) is a lot more difficult to trace than something as large as a manned capsule. It may also have been used to ferry fuel from other sites in orbit - perhaps raiding those musky astronomer-annoyers so the USTLA doesn't have to launch supplies of fuel themselves :)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
