'Sputnik' was the first artificial satellite to successfully achieve Earth orbit.
It was launched by the USSR on October 4, 1957. It was not the first rocket fired
by Russia, and it wasn't even the first launch of an artificial satellite. There had
been several failed earlier attempts, by both the USSR and the USA. But Sputnik-1
was the first package that went into Earth orbit and actually stayed there for a couple
of months.
