What was the name of the satellite that was the first satellite to orbit earth and the craft circled earth every 95 minutes at almost 2000 miles per hour until three months later it fell from the sky?

Answer 1

Sputnik was the first satellite to orbit the Earth. It was Russian and transmitted a radio signal. It is possible that a earlier satellite could be in orbit, without any communications this would be the same as a cannon shell etc. So long as an object can reach orbit it will constantly drop towards the planet and because the planet is round the object will rotate around being pulled by gravity