| R-7A | |
|---|---|
_misil.svg) A 2-view drawing of the R-7 Semyorka (NATO code-name SS-6 Sapwood) | |
| Type | Ballistic missile |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 9 February 1959 – 1968 |
| Used by | Strategic Missile Troops |
| Wars | Cold War |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Sergei Korolev |
| Designed | From 1953 |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 280 metric tons (280 long tons; 310 short tons) |
| Height | 37 m |
| Diameter | 10.3 m (34 ft) |
| Effective firing range | 8,000–8,800 km (5,000–5,500 mi) |
| Warhead | A single KB-11-derived, 5,300–5,500 kg (11,700–12,100 lb), 7.27 m (23.9 ft) diameter, 3 to 5 Mt, thermonuclear warhead |
| Engine | 4x jettisonable four-chamber RD-107 engines on boosters each with 2x vernier rocket engines, plus 1x four-chamber RD-108 engine on the central core with 4x vernier rocket engines.
|
| Propellant | LOX/T-1 |
Steering system | 12x vernier thrusters arranged around the booster clusters and the core engines |
| Accuracy | 2.5–5.0 kilometers (max. deviation 10 kilometers) |
The R-7 Semyorka (Russian: Р-7 Семёрка), officially the GRAU index 8K71, was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative, the R-7A, was operational from 1960 to 1968. To the West it was unknown until its launch (later it would get the NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood). In modified form, it launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit, and became the basis for the R-7 family which includes Sputnik, Luna, Molniya, Vostok, and Voskhod space launchers, as well as later Soyuz variants. Various modifications are still in use and it has become the world's most reliable space launcher.