Step 1 : Introduction to the question "What was the first man-made satellite put into orbit?"
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit in 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. It was a 23 inch diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Sputnik completed 1,440 orbits of the Earth, and travelled a distance of about 43 million miles. The surprise success of Sputnik 1 triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War.