due to later problems with vanguard it was not the first rocket to put into orbit an unmanned satellite. the first small-lift launch vehicle was the sputnik rocket, it put into orbit an unmanned orbital carrier rocket designed by sergei korolev in the soviet union, derived from the r-7 semyorka icbm. on 4 october 1957, the sputnik rocket was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, placing sputnik 1 satellite into a low earth orbit.