List of spacecraft called Sputnik

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Sputnik (Спутник), a Russian word meaning "satellite" or literally "fellow traveler", is a name applied to certain spacecraft launched under the Soviet space program. "Sputnik 1", "Sputnik 2" and "Sputnik 3" were the official Soviet names of those objects, while the remaining designations in the series ("Sputnik 4" and so on) were not official names, but were names applied in the West, to objects whose original Soviet names may not have been known at the time.

Spacecraft officially named Sputnik

Spacecraft with names containing Sputnik

Being the Russian term for "satellite", the word Sputnik has appeared in the names of other spacecraft:

  • Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik, a series of scientific and technology development satellites
  • Istrebitel Sputnik, "Fighter Satellite", a series of antisatellite weapons and targets
  • Tyazhely Sputnik, "Heavy Satellite", a failed Venus probe
  • Upravlyaemy Sputnik, "Controllable Satellite", a series of ocean surveillance and missile detection satellites
    • US-A, nuclear-powered ocean radar surveillance satellites
    • US-K, molniya orbit missile detection satellites
    • US-KS, geosynchronous orbit missile detection satellites
    • US-KMO, Modernised geosynchronous orbit missile detection satellites
    • US-P, electronic ocean surveillance satellites
    • US-PM, modernised electronic ocean surveillance satellites

Spacecraft designated "Sputnik" in the West

These objects are listed with their official Soviet names:

Spacecraft named after Sputnik 1

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