List of spacecraft called Sputnik

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Sputnik 1

Sputnik (Спутник, Russian for "satellite"[1]) is a 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[]

  • Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to go into orbit, launched 4 October 1957
  • Sputnik 2, the first spacecraft to carry a living animal (the dog Laika) into orbit, launched 3 November 1957
  • Sputnik 3, a research satellite launched 15 May 1958

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 Sputnikov, "Destroyer of Satellites", a series of antisatellite weapons and targets
  • Tyazhely Sputnik, "Heavy Satellite", a failed Venus probe
  • , "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
    • , electronic ocean surveillance satellites
    • , 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[]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ NOTE: The Russian word "sputnik" can have many meanings: "satellite", "travelling companion", "fellow traveller", etc. However, in astronomy it only means "satellite".
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