What was the first space probe mission?

I need to know what the name of the first space probe ever launched into space was and a little about it's mission. Please help!|||Sputnik - October 4, 1957


Sputnik contained two radio transmitters, which sent back the “beep-beep-beep” heard round the world. Explorer contained a cosmic ray detector, radio transmitter, and temperature and micro-meteoroid sensors.|||from wikipedia...





%26lt;The first successful space probe was the Soviet Luna 1 flyby of the Moon in 1959. Luna 1 reached the escape velocity of the Earth, and passed within 5,995 km (3,725 mi) of the Moon's surface after 83 hours of flight. It then went into orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars%26gt;