country r-7a semyorka
An intercontinental ballistic missile ( ICBM ) is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery ( delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads ). Similarly , conventional , chemical , and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness , but have never been deployed on ICBMs . Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles ( MIRVs ), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads , each of which can strike a different target . Sputnik 1 (" Satellite - 1 ", or  - 1 [" PS - 1 ", i . e ., , " Prosteyshiy Sputnik - 1 ", " Elementary Satellite 1 "]) was the first artificial Earth satellite . The ___MASK72___ launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957 . It was a diameter polished metal sphere , with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses . It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable . This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race , a part of the larger Cold War . The launch ushered in new political , military , technological , and scientific developments . Mir (; lit . " peace " or " ___MASK36___ ") was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001 , run by the ___MASK72___ and later by Russia . " Mir " was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996 . It had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft . At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit , succeeded by the International Space Station after Mir ' s orbit decayed . The station served as a microgravity research laboratory in which crews conducted experiments in biology , human biology , physics , astronomy , meteorology and spacecraft systems with a goal of developing technologies required for permanent occupation of space . The R - 7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War , and the ___MASK36___ ' 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 ___MASK72___ 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 . The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after ___MASK36___ War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc ( the ___MASK72___ and its satellite states ) and powers in the Western Bloc ( the United States , its NATO allies and others ). Historians do not fully agree on the dates , but a common timeframe is the period ( the second half of the 20th century ) between 1947 , the year the Truman Doctrine ( a U . S . policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism ) was announced , and 1991 , the year the ___MASK72___ collapsed . The R - 7A Semyorka , GRAU index 8K74 , was an early Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile derived from the earlier R - 7 Semyorka . It was the only member of the R - 7 family of rockets to be deployed as an operational missile . The R - 7A first flew on 23 December 1959 , entered service on 31 December of the same year , and was formally accepted on 20 January 1960 . It was declared fully operational on 12 September 1960 and was retired from service in 1968 . Twenty eight test launches were conducted with three failures . Most test launches occurred from Sites 1 / 5 and 31 / 6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome . The main operational base for R - 7A missiles was Plesetsk Cosmodrome , where four launch pads were used at Sites 41 / 1 , 16 / 2 , 43 / 3 and 43 / 4 . Baikonur Site 31 / 6 was also used for operational missiles . Another base near Krasnoyarsk was proposed , but later cancelled . The R - 7A was designed to carry a nuclear warhead ; however , there was only one occasion where a live warhead was loaded onto a missile , during the Cuban Missile Crisis . After the missile had been armed , it was rolled out to Site 41 / 1 at Plesetsk , and would have had a response time of 8 - 12 hours , should an order to launch it have been given . In the event of nuclear war , other missiles would have been armed as required , in accordance with the Soviet policy of storing missiles and warheads separately . NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment of ___MASK19___ , ___MASK15___ , and , historically , the former Eastern Bloc ( ___MASK72___ and other nations of the Warsaw Pact ). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manner in place of the original designations , which either may have been unknown to the Western world at the time or easily confused codes . A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle ( MIRV ) is a ballistic missile payload containing several warheads , each capable of being aimed to hit one of a group of targets . By contrast a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile . An intermediate case is the multiple reentry vehicle ( MRV ) missile which carries several warheads which are dispersed but not individually aimed . Only the ___MASK32___ , United Kingdom , Russia , ___MASK82___ , and ___MASK15___ are known to currently possess MIRV missiles .