Yes, it was with a rocket for the purpose stated. It carried instrumentation for other projects, too.

Ok, and I have given Eroica time to jump in. [Through searching, I learned that he knows the answer, if he can go back several years to our posts.] Also, I don't want to drag it out as the answer may make this bludgeoner a bludgeonee (for reasons that may be all too apparent).

The first attempt at this was years before Sputnik, in the mid 1940s.

__________________
Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.