How many sputniks were there?

Short answer: the Soviet Union launched three Sputnikmissions (Sputnik 1, 2 & 3) and Russia launched two Sputnik missions (Sputnik 40 & 41). The Soviet Union launched a further five Korabl Sputnik missions (Korabl Sputnik 1 to 5). All other Sputnik missions are the West's brainchild. The Soviet Union called the very first artificial satellite from October 4th 1957, Sputnik. Due to secrecy a lot of Soviet spacecraft were not publicly named and Western newspapers named different Soviet spacecraft Sputniks. When they reached high Sputnik numbers they realised that the Soviet Union already called their indefinite satellites for Cosmos.

The Vostok spacecraft were tested unmanned or with dogs and dummies (Ivan Ivanovic) as Korabl Sputniks (Sputnik ship) as Soviet designation. Sputnik number: -- Year: -- mission: * 1 - 1957 - First artificial satellite * 2 - 1957 - Space Dog Laika * 3 - 1958 - Van Allen Belt research * 4 - 1960 - dummy Vostok craft (Korabl Sputnik 1) * 5 - 1960 - 2 dogs in a Vostok craft (Korabl Sputnik 2) * 6 - 1960 - 2 dogs in a Vostok craft (Korabl Sputnik 3) * 7 - 1961 - failed venus probe * 8 - 1961 - Venera 1 venus probe * 9 - 1961 - a dog and Ivan Ivanovic(Korabl Sputnik 4) * 10 - 1961 - a dog and Ivan Ivanovic(Korabl Sputnik 5) * 11 - 1961 - Yuri Gargarin (Vostok 1) * 12 - 1961 - Gherman Titov (Vostok 2) * 13 - 1962 - scientific (Cosmos 3) * 14 - 1962 - scientific (Cosmos 4) * 15 - 1962 - scientific (Cosmos 5) * 16 - 1962 - scientific (Cosmos 6) * 17 - 1962 - scientific (Cosmos 7) * 18 - 1962 - scientific (Cosmos 8) * 19 - 1962 - failed venus probe * 20 - 1962 - failed venus probe * 21 - 1962 - failed venus probe * 22 - 1963 - failed mars probe * 23 - 1963 - Mars 1 mars probe * 24 - 1963 - failed mars probe * 25 - 1963 - failed lunar lander * 33 - unsure * 40 - 1997 - 1/3 scale of Sputnik 1 launched from the MIR space station * 41 - 1998 - another 40 anniversary Sputnik 1 copy