On the whole, Eisenhower's support of the nation's fledgling space program was officially modest until the <answer>Soviet launch of Sputnik</answer> in 1957, gaining the Cold War enemy enormous prestige around the world. He then launched a national campaign that funded not just space exploration but a major strengthening of science and higher education. His Open Skies Policy attempted to legitimize illegal Lockheed U-2 flyovers and Project Genetrix while paving the way for spy satellite technology to orbit over sovereign territory, created NASA as a civilian space agency, signed a landmark science education law, and fostered improved relations with American scientists.
What caused Eisenhower to kickstart the US space program?
Soviet launch of Sputnik