What was the name of the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957?

The story behind the answer

Sputnik 1 is correct because it was the world’s first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. A polished metal sphere about 58 cm across with four long antennas, it transmitted simple “beeps” on 20 and 40 MHz as it orbited Earth every ~96 minutes, proving that humans could place objects in space.

This event sparked the Space Age and intensified the Cold War space race, leading the U.S. to create NASA and launch Explorer 1 soon after. To remember it, think “Sputnik starts space”: the “S” sound links Sputnik, Soviet, and Start. The other names (Zenit, Voskhod, Soyuz) were later Soviet spacecraft or satellite families—not the first to reach orbit.