R-7 (rocket family)

R-7 Semyorka and its variants used as launchers in the early Soviet space program

The R-7 (Russian: Р-7) family of rockets is a series of rockets, derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). More R-7 rockets have been launched than any other family of large rockets.

Under the direction of the rocket pioneer Sergey Korolyov, the Soviet Union during the 1950s developed an ICBM that was capable of delivering a heavy nuclear weapon to American targets. That ICBM, called the R-7 or Semyorka ("Number 7"), was first successfully tested on August 21, 1957. Because Soviet nuclear warheads were based on a heavy design, the R-7 had significantly greater weight-lifting capability than did initial U.S. ICBMs. When used as a space launch vehicle, this gave the Soviet Union a significant early advantage in the weight that could be placed in orbit or sent to the Moon or nearby planets. There have been a number of variants of the R-7 with an upper stage, each with a different name, usually matching that of the payload, and each optimized to carry out specific missions. An unmodified R-7 was used to launch the first Soviet satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957, and an R-7 variant, the Vostok, launched the first Soviet cosmonauts, among them Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, 1961, became the first human to orbit Earth. Other variants include the Voshkod, used to launch reconnaissance satellites, and the Molniya, used to launch communications satellites. A multipurpose variant, the Soyuz, was first used in 1966 and, with many subsequent variants and improvements, is still in service. This family of launch vehicles has carried out more space launches than the rest of the world's launch vehicles combined.

When Soviet nuclear warheads became lighter, the R-7 turned out to be impractical as a ballistic missile, and there were no other heavy payloads with a military application. However, long-term development has made the rockets useful in the Soviet, and later, Russian space programmes. Their purpose shifted primarily to launching satellites, probes, crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, and other non-threatening payloads. The R-7 family consists of both missiles and orbital carrier rockets. Derivatives include the Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz rockets, which as of 2022 have been used for all Soviet, and later Russian human spaceflights. The type has a unique configuration where four break-away liquid-fueled engines surround a central core. The core acts as, in effect, a "second stage" after the other four engines are jettisoned. These rockets are expendable.

Later modifications were standardised around the Soyuz design. The Soyuz-2 is currently in use.

The Soyuz-FG was retired in 2019 in favour of the Soyuz-2.1a.^[1] R-7 rockets are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Guiana Space Centre (from 2011 to 2022, see Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre), and the Vostochny Cosmodrome (first launch 2016).

Summary of variants

All the R-7 family rockets are listed here by date of introduction. Most of the early R-7 variants have been retired. Active versions (as of 2022) are shown in green.

Name	GRAU index	Function	N° Core Stages^[a]	Maiden flight	Final flight	Launches^[b]			Remarks
Name	GRAU index	Function	N° Core Stages^[a]	Maiden flight	Final flight	Total	Success	Failure (+ partial)	Remarks
R-7 Semyorka	8K71	ICBM	1	15 May 1957	27 February 1961	27	18	9	World's first ICBM
Sputnik-PS	8K71PS	Carrier rocket	1	4 October 1957	3 November 1957	2	2	0	World's first carrier rocket Launched Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2
Sputnik	8A91	Carrier rocket	1	27 April 1958	15 May 1958	2	1	1	Launched Sputnik 3
Luna	8K72	Carrier rocket	2	23 September 1958	16 April 1960	9	2	7	Launched first Lunar probes
R-7A Semyorka	8K74	ICBM	1	23 December 1959	25 July 1967	21	18	3	The only operational ICBM version. Improved range and guidance system. Only 6 launch positions were available. Used as a base for 11A57 and later mods
Vostok-L	8K72L	Carrier rocket	2	15 May 1960	1 December 1960	4	3	1	Variant of Luna, used to launch prototype Vostok spacecraft
Molniya	8K78	Carrier rocket	3	20 January 1960	3 December 1965	26	12	14	Designed to send payloads out of LEO
Vostok-K	8K72K	Carrier rocket	2	22 December 1960	10 July 1964	13	11	2	Used for crewed Vostok missions First rocket to launch a man into space
Molniya-L	8K78L	Carrier rocket	3	Unbuilt
Vostok-2	8A92	Carrier rocket	2	1 June 1962	12 May 1967	45	40	5	Used for launching Zenit reconnaissance satellites throughout the 1960s
Polyot	11A59	Carrier rocket	1	1 November 1963	12 April 1964	2	2	0
Voskhod	11A57	Carrier rocket	2	16 November 1963	29 June 1976	300	277	23	Launched crewed Voskhod 1 and Voskhod 2 missions
Molniya-M	8K78M	Carrier rocket	3	19 February 1964	30 September 2010^[2]	297	276	21	Improved version of Molniya
Vostok-2M	8A92M	Carrier rocket	2	28 August 1964	29 August 1991	94	92	2	Modified version for launching Meteor weather satellites into higher orbits
Soyuz/Vostok	11A510	Carrier rocket	3	27 December 1965	20 July 1966	2	2	0	Launched with prototype US-A satellites
Soyuz	11A511	Carrier rocket	2	28 November 1966	24 May 1975	30	28	2	Launched several crewed Soyuz missions
Soyuz-B	11K55	Carrier rocket	2	Unbuilt
Soyuz-V	11K56	Carrier rocket	2	Unbuilt
Soyuz-R	11A514	Carrier rocket	2	Unbuilt
Soyuz-L	11A511L	Carrier rocket	2	24 November 1970	12 August 1971	3	3	0	Created to test the LK lunar lander in LEO
Soyuz-M	11A511M	Carrier rocket	2	27 December 1971	31 March 1976	8	8	0	Built to launch crewed Soyuz 7K-VI spacecraft, eventually used to launch reconnaissance satellites
Soyuz-U	11A511U	Carrier rocket	2 or 3	18 May 1973	22 February 2017	786	765	22^[3]	Single most launched carrier rocket ever built Used for a number of crewed Soyuz launches
Soyuz-U2	11A511U2	Carrier rocket	2	23 December 1982	3 September 1995	72	72	0	Used for a number of crewed Soyuz launches
Soyuz-FG	11A511U-FG	Carrier rocket	2 or 3	20 May 2001	25 September 2019	70	69	1	Used for crewed Soyuz launches, the final launch was the Soyuz MS-15 on 25 September 2019.
Soyuz-2.1a / STA	14A14A	Carrier rocket	2 or 3	8 November 2004	Active	75	72	2+1p	Used for crewed Soyuz launches from Soyuz MS-16 on 9 April 2020. In August 2019 the booster lofted the uncrewed Soyuz MS-14 into orbit in order to test the spacecraft on the new rocket.
Soyuz-2.1b / STB	14A14B	Carrier rocket	2 or 3	27 December 2006	Active	90	87	2+1p
Soyuz-2-1v	14A15	Carrier rocket	2	28 December 2013	Active	12	11	1p	1st stage uses a completely new design utilizing surplus NK-33 engines from the Moon N-1 launcher and no boosters.
^ Not including boosters ^ As of 22 May 2020

Korolev Cross

The Korolev Cross is a visual phenomenon observed in the smoke plumes of the R-7 series rockets during separation of the four liquid-fueled booster rockets attached to the core stage.^[4] As the boosters fall away from the rocket, they pitch over symmetrically due to aerodynamic forces acting upon them, forming a cross-like shape behind the rocket. The effect is named after Sergei Korolev, the designer of the R-7 rocket. When the rocket is launched into clear skies, the effect can be seen from the ground at the launch site.

References

^ Zak, Anatoly. "Soyuz-FG's long road to retirement". Russian Space Web. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
^ Mu, Xuequan (1 October 2010). "Russia sends military satellite into space". Xinhua. Archived from the original on October 3, 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
^ In 1983, flight Soyuz T-10a caught fire on the launch pad before the end of the countdown, so it is not counted in the list of launches; this is why adding successes and failures yields 787 launches instead of 786.
^ NASA TV coverage of Soyuz TMA-12 launch

McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch List - R-7 Family". Jonathan's Space Page. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
Wade, Mark. "Soyuz". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2008-12-21.

External links

Rocket R-7 Archived 2020-03-30 at the Wayback Machine from S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, a Russian rocket and space contractor

[2] Not including boosters

[3] As of 22 May 2020

[1] Zak, Anatoly. "Soyuz-FG's long road to retirement". Russian Space Web. Retrieved 19 October 2017.

[MM-retired-4] Mu, Xuequan (1 October 2010). "Russia sends military satellite into space". Xinhua. Archived from the original on October 3, 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.

[explain-soyuz-u-launch-counts-5] In 1983, flight Soyuz T-10a caught fire on the launch pad before the end of the countdown, so it is not counted in the list of launches; this is why adding successes and failures yields 787 launches instead of 786.

[6] NASA TV coverage of Soyuz TMA-12 launch

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v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Soviet and Russian launch vehicles
Active	Angara 1.2 A5 Soyuz-2 2.1a 2.1b 2-1v UR Proton-M
In development	Amur Irtysh Yenisei
Retired	Dnepr Energia Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M N1 R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U U2 FG Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Start-1 Tsyklon original 2 3 UR UR-500 Proton-K Rokot Strela Zenit 2 2M 3SL 3SLB 3F
Cancelled (no launch attempts)	Tsyklon-4 Proton Light Medium

Summary of variants

Korolev Cross

See also

References

External links