Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, marking humanity's first artificial satellite. This event ignited a fierce competition between Washington and Moscow to develop military technologies capable of reaching across continents within minutes.
Operation Hardtack I included three high-altitude nuclear tests conducted by the United States Government in 1958. YUCCA detonated on April 28 at an altitude of 86,000 feet with a yield of 1.7 kilotons, while ORANGE and TEAK followed later that summer at heights exceeding 140,000 feet.
The Global Positioning System uses an intermediate circular orbit constellation of at least twenty-four satellites to determine precise location anywhere on Earth. Primary military purposes include improved command and control through enhanced location awareness and accurate targeting of smart bombs or cruise missiles.
A USAF pilot flying an F-15 successfully shot down P78-1, a communications satellite in low Earth orbit, in the mid-1980s. The People's Republic of China used a missile system to destroy one of its obsolete satellites in 2007, India eliminated a live satellite in March 2019, and Russian military forces destroyed Kosmos 1408 on the 15th of November 2021.
The Outer Space Treaty entered into effect on the 10th of October 1967 after being signed by the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union. It banned placement of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies while declaring outer space free for exploration by all states.