When Sputnik 1 flew in 1957, the Eisenhower administration considered there to be a serious silver lining: the Soviets had established a precedent for freely orbiting over other nations. The United States quickly took advantage of this standard to field spy satellites. Although space’s status as an “open skies” domain was debated as late as 1963, the custom has solidified, and it is now beyond question. It’s worth noting that things could have gone otherwise.
