The Sputnik rocket was an uncrewed orbital carrier rocket designed by Sergei Korolev in the Soviet Union, derived from the R-7 Semyorka ICBM.

On 4 October 1957, it was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, placing Sputnik 1 into a low Earth orbit.

[1] A later member of the R-7 family, the Polyot, used the same configuration as the Sputnik rocket, but was constructed from Voskhod components.

The Sputnik 8A91 had more powerful 8D76 and 8D77 engines installed,[2] increasing its payload capacity, and allowing it to launch much heavier satellites than Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2.

[3] The first launch, on 27 April, failed due to vibrations that unexpectedly occurred during the flight along the longitudinal axis of the rocket.