Le R 7 Semiorka premier missile balistique intercontinental élaboré par l'Union soviétique

Video from the channel Armes des temps Modernes about R-7 Semyorka, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 5:19. Language: French. Video type: Documentary.

An explainer piece narrated in French about the R-7 Semyorka (NATO code SS-6 Sapwood), the first intercontinental ballistic missile, and about the Soviet missiles that preceded it.

It was developed by OKB-1 under Sergei Korolev's direction. It entered service in 1960, but its characteristics, poorly suited to military needs, hastened its retirement. The United States waited until it had lighter H-bombs; the Soviet Union, by contrast, designed from the outset a missile able to carry 5 t. According to the video, that explains why the first Soviet launchers were much more powerful than the American ones, citing the Atlas as an example, which carried only one tonne. As a space launcher, the R-7 placed Sputnik 1 into orbit on 4 October 1957 and gave rise to a family reaching up to the Soyuz, built at plant No. 1 in Samara.

The video reviews the missiles the NII-88 institute had developed earlier. The R-1 (13.4 t) flew for the first time in 1948 and carried 785 kg over 270 km; it was a copy of the V-2. The R-2 (20 t) reached 600 km with 1,000 kg and used radio guidance. The R-5 (29 t) flew in 1953 and carried 1,000 kg over 1,200 km; a derivative of it was the first to carry a nuclear payload. All were single-stage and burned liquid oxygen and ethanol. They were designed by Korolev's team, with the propulsion developed by Valentin Glushko.