Layman’s question: Do all launches into space, and the satellites thereof, orbit in the same general direction?
Holy head-on collisions, Batman; that’s a good question.
No, all satellites do not orbit in the same direction. It depends what the purpose of the satellite is. Some, typically communition sattelites, “hover” over a spot on the ground....that is, the orbit is in the planets orbital direction, far enough out and fast enough to stay there. That is called a synchronous orbit.
Others have what is known as a polar orbit, where the pass over the polar region, likely at enough of an angle that they criss-cross around the globe, covering the whole earth in a few days or weeks.
Ohers yet have an orbit skewed to the equator, say by 45 deg.