R-7 Semyorka

The R-7 Semyorka was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. Designed by OKB-1 under Sergei Korolev, it burned kerosene and liquid oxygen in a core stage with four strap-on boosters, each driven by a multi-chamber engine, and was first tested successfully in August 1957. As a weapon it was cumbersome, needing about 20 hours of preparation, and only a few were deployed, but the rocket was adapted into the launcher for Sputnik and the Vostok crewed spacecraft. Its descendants, including the Molniya, Voskhod and Soyuz launchers, make up the most launched rocket family in history.