R-7A

8K74

Mission Profile

R-7A (8K74) was an improved variant of the world's first ICBM, the R-7 Semyorka, featuring enhanced range capability and a more capable warhead delivery system for the Soviet nuclear arsenal. Standing 34.2 meters tall with a liftoff mass of 280,000 kg and generating 3,900 kN of thrust, it entered service in December 1959. Though quickly superseded as an ICBM by more practical storable-propellant missiles, the R-7A's fundamental design — a two-stage core with four strap-on boosters — proved extraordinarily durable as a space launch vehicle, forming the basis of the Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod, and ultimately Soyuz rocket families that flew for over six decades.