Sputnik-1, launched from the USSR on October 4, 1957, was the first successful man-made
earth satellite.
But it would be a grave error to believe that US/Soviet relations were devoid of competition
until that time. Indeed, had there been no fierce, unrelenting competition during the preceding
several years, there would have been no Sputnik. Sputnik was a result of intense competition,
not the cause of it.
Sputnik 1 was the spacecraft that added an element of competition to US soviet relations when it became the first successful man made earth satellite. It was launched on October 4, 1957.
Sputnik; Competition
luna 1
"The first rocket was the Sputnik...." Here we go again... NO It Wasn't! The first Spacecraft with a human to go into space was the Russian Satellite called 'Vostok', or 'Vostok 3KA'. 'Sputink', is the Russian word for 'Satellite', it was NOT the Name of the spacecraft. imagine if every Russian called 'Apollo 18' ... 'Satilite' with a heavy russian accent... DRrr Not. It Also was not the first spacecraft! the Russians launched a bunch of Dogs and crap up there first... there were many spacecrafts that went up before 'Vostok'.
Unmanned
European Satellite Navigation Competition was created in 2004.
Canada was the third nation to launch spacecraft, in the form of a satellite.
That's a satellite.
Orbits a planet/moon
Moon, protectorate, spacecraft...
Technically speaking, the HST is a satellite (or spacecraft as formulated in the question).
Cassini spacecraft