Shavit 2 ( Hebrew: " comet" - 2 שביט) was the first Israeli

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

, launched on 5 July 1961 for

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

research. The weight of Shavit 2 was 250 kg and its height was 3.76 metres. The rocket achieved a height of 80 km. The Shavit sounding rocket is distinct from the later Shavit 2 space launch vehicle also produced by Israel to launch Ofeq reconnaissance satellites into low Earth orbit beginning in September 1988.

References

RAFAEL Armament Development Authority Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. ( he, רפאל - מערכות לחימה מתקדמות בע"מ, formerly Rafael Armament Development Authority), ("Rafael" from Hebrew acronym of "Authority for the Development of Armaments" - ) is an Israel ...

... by Munia Merdor, Ministry of Defense publishing, 1980, pp. 319–348. * Above the Horizon, 50 years of Israel's Space Activity, by Dani Shalom, BaAvir flight publishing, 2003, pp. 12–15. Sounding rockets of Israel {{Rocket-stub