query: country r-7a semyorka
supports: 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 United States, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China are known to currently possess MIRV missiles. The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union 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 Soviet Union collapsed. 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. Mir (; lit. "peace" or "world") was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, run by the Soviet Union 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. 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. 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 Russia, China, and, historically, the former Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union 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. Sputnik 1 ("Satellite-1", or -1 ["PS-1", i.e., , "Prosteyshiy Sputnik-1", "Elementary Satellite 1"]) was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union 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.
candidates: china russia soviet union united states world
answer: soviet union