R-7 Sapwood: Missile That Launched The Nuclear Age | WION Podcast

Video from the channel WION about R-7 Semyorka, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 4:37. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

An explainer from the WION channel about the R-7, known to NATO as the SS-6 Sapwood and the first intercontinental ballistic missile to be tested. Developed from the early 1950s under the direction of Sergei Korolev to carry a heavy thermonuclear warhead, it began testing in May 1957 with booster separation and stability problems. On 21 August 1957 it completed its first long-range flight from Baikonur.

The R-7A variant entered service in 1960, based mainly at Plesetsk, and was retired in 1968. The video stresses that its large launch complexes were vulnerable and that preparing it for launch took hours. It also notes that the R-7 family launched Sputnik 1 in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin in 1961.