During the Cold War, the US enlisted the help of Kodak to create a satellite camera for spying on the Soviet Union. This 4-minute video by CNN is a look at the program and the former Kodak employees who "helped prevent World War III."
There are perks to doing your PhD on optical studies of the aurora, and among them is that you might just stumble across a very exotic lens like the De Oude Delft 105mm f/0.75 in the cabinets of the research group you're working with.
That's what happen to photographer Jason Ahrns, and although they wouldn't let him buy the lens, he was allowed to take it home on an extended loan and try to put this monster through its paces.
Check out this beastly camera used by Signal Corps during the Cold War. It featured a 100-inch infrared lens that was capable of seeing through over twenty miles of hazy air -- perfect for capturing reconnaissance photographs of enemy strongholds. The camera was so massive that it required two people to operate: one to frame the shot, and one to snap the photo.
100-inches is 2540mm and the camera appears to use 4x5 large format film, so the equivalent 35mm focal length of this cannon-like lens is roughly 760mm.