<human>:  What was the first spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit?
<bot>: That would be Sputnik 1, launched in 1957. It was the first man-made object to enter Earth’s orbit. Sputnik 1 was a small satellite with a radio transmitter and a simple camera. It was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. It circled the Earth for several weeks before it re-entered the atmosphere and burned up on re-entry.