The
R-7 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, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the
R-7A, was deployed from 1959 to 1968. To the West it was known by the
NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood and within the Soviet Union by the
GRAU index
8K71. In modified form, it launched
Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit, and became the basis for the
R7 family which includes
Sputnik,
Luna,
Molniya,
Vostok, and
Voskhod space launchers, as well as later
Soyuz variants.