Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to go around the Earth. It was made by the Soviet Union. It was launched on 4 October 1957 at Baikonur Cosmodrome. It orbited (went around) the Earth for three months. It carried a radio transmitter. It did 1,440 orbits of the Earth during this time. It went down into Earth's atmosphere on 4 January 1958 and burned up.