While it didn't land intentionally, it did eventually re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up upon impact.
The first intentional spacecraft landing on Earth was Luna 2, also launched by the Soviet Union in 1959. It was designed to impact the surface of the Moon, and it successfully did so, becoming the first human-made object to reach another celestial body.
However, it's worth noting that Luna 2 didn't technically "land" in the way we usually think of it. It crashed into the lunar surface.
The first spacecraft to soft-land on Earth was the Soviet Union's Vostok 1 in 1961, carrying the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin.
