R-7 Semyorka

Also known as Semyorka, 8K71, SS-6 Sapwood, Sapwood, R-7

intercontinental ballistic missile

Key facts

Type: Ballistic missile
Place of origin: Soviet Union
In service: 9 February 1959 – 1968
Used by: Strategic Missile Troops
Wars: Cold War
Designer: Sergei Korolev
Designed: From 1953
Variants: See Variants
Mass: 280 metric tons (280 long tons; 310 short tons)
Height: 37 m (121 ft)
Diameter: 10.3 m (34 ft)
Effective firing range: 8,000–8,800 km (5,000–5,500 mi)
Warhead

Article

The R-7 Semyorka (Russian: Р-7 Семёрка, lit. 'number seven', GRAU index: 8K71) was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The basis for the R-7 rocket family, it was adapted into the world's first orbital launch vehicle, Sputnik, and the crewed orbital launch vehicles Vostok. R-7 derivatives are the most launched rocket family ever with over 2,000 flights as of 2026, primarily Soyuz variants.

Developed by OKB-1 under Sergei Korolev, the R-7 used a kerolox propellant, with a 37 meter-tall core stage powered by the four-chamber RD-108 engine, and four boosters each powered by one four-chamber RD-107 engines. It carried a thermonuclear warhead of between three and five megatons, based on the RDS-37 design. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative, the R-7A, was operational from 1960 to 1968. Western Cold War espionage did not discover the R-7 until its launch, later giving it the NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood. In August 1957, it was first tested successfully, flying 6,000 km from Baikonur Cosmodrome to Kura Missile Test Range.