Understood, but NORAD tracks everything in the sky — and everything in orbit. It knows where this payload went.
Do they?
Yes, they should. Yes, perhaps they once did. But do they still?
I'm not so sanguine. It's been a long time since the end of history (1991 or so). If Clinton can lose his code chit, I'm afraid anything is possible. (Musta left it in my other pants. At Sharon's house.)