The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.

An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi), primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness but have never been deployed on ICBMs.

Some 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 United States, Russia, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, and North Korea are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs.

Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed country that does not possess ICBMs.

Atlas missile test launch
Atlas missile test launch (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
19-03-2012-Parade-rehearsal - Topol-M
19-03-2012-Parade-rehearsal - Topol-M (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
USAF ICBM and NASA Launch Vehicle Flight Test Successes and Failures (highlighted)
USAF ICBM and NASA Launch Vehicle Flight Test Successes and Failures (highlighted) (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Icbm-hist-en
Icbm-hist-en (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Watch: 21st August 1957: USSR successfully tests the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)

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Sources and further reading: Wikipedia — Intercontinental ballistic missile, Soviet Union, R-7 Semyorka (CC BY-SA). Images: Wikimedia Commons.