Most Great Things Start out as Something Clunky and Stupid

Besides the cost, the missile had other debilitating operational problems. With the U-2 overflights, the enormous R-7 launch complexes could not be hidden and could expect to be destroyed quickly in any nuclear war. The enormous R-7 took almost twenty hours to prepare for launching, and it could not be left on alert for more than a day due to its cryogenic fuel system. Therefore, the Soviet force could not be kept on permanent alert, and could be destroyed before launching even by American bombers while they stood no chance against American ICBMs. The failure of the R-7 pushed the Soviet Union into rapidly developing second-generation missiles which would be viable weapons systems.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-7_rocket