Israel launches reconnaissance satellite
In its first launch since 2016, Israel yesterday successfully used its Shavit rocket to place a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit.
This was also Israel’s ninth successful launch since it completed its first in 1988. The country has averaged about one launch every four years since, almost of of which have been military reconnaissance satellites. Generally, the pattern has been for Israeli commercial satellites to get launched by other commercial rocket companies, leaving the military launches to Shavit.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race remain unchanged:
15 China
10 SpaceX
7 Russia
3 ULA
The U.S. leads China 16 to 15 in the national rankings.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
In its first launch since 2016, Israel yesterday successfully used its Shavit rocket to place a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit.
This was also Israel’s ninth successful launch since it completed its first in 1988. The country has averaged about one launch every four years since, almost of of which have been military reconnaissance satellites. Generally, the pattern has been for Israeli commercial satellites to get launched by other commercial rocket companies, leaving the military launches to Shavit.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race remain unchanged:
15 China
10 SpaceX
7 Russia
3 ULA
The U.S. leads China 16 to 15 in the national rankings.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Eleventh launch overall, but according to Wikipedia, the launches of Ofeks 4 & 6 failed in 1998 & 2004, respectively. Or are you counting something else?
mkent: I am counting what I have tracked of successful launches. The data comes from multiple space sources such as SpaceflightNow, the Space Launch Report, and the Encyclopedia Astronautica, to name a few. Wikipedia can be useful but as a source I would not rely on it solely.
So which flights are you rating as a success, and which flights are you rating as a failure? Wikipedia lists them thus:
Variant Launch Date Payload Status
Shavit 19 Sep 1988 Ofek-1 Success
Shavit 03 Apr 1990 Ofek-2 Success
Shavit-1 05 Apr 1995 Ofek-3 Success
Shavit-1 22 Jan 1998 Ofek-4 Failure
Shavit-1 28 May 2002 Ofek-5 Success
Shavit-1 06 Sep 2004 Ofek-6 Failure
Shavit-2 11 Jun 2007 Ofek-7 Success
Shavit-2 22 Jun 2010 Ofek-9 Success
Shavit-2 09 Apr 2014 Ofek-10 Success
Shavit-2 13 Sep 2016 Ofek-11 Success
This jives with Encyclopedia Astronautica. The Space Launch Report also agrees with this except that it adds an unacknowledged test flight in 1994 as a failed orbital launch attempt while noting that it could have been a suborbital test, possibly of a different vehicle. All three sources agree on eight previous successful launches and which ones they were.
Also always worth pointing out they are the only orbiter booster who launches retrograde, against the earth’s revolution. Crazy Israelis, just launch west over the middle east, what could go wrong? China and Russia don’t seem to care if they drop a hydrazine burning stage on a village all that much.
mkent: I did some rechecking and find you are correct. I had listed the 1998 and 2004 launches as successes when they were not.
I appreciate the zeal in which you check up on my work. Only makes it better. I will correct the post.
Checking up on your work? No, not really. It’s just that the Shavit launch record was something I knew from memory, so when your figure didn’t match, I looked it up to make sure my memory wasn’t failing. I was thinking a few weeks ago they were overdue for another launch. We’re cool.
mkent: My thanks were sincere. I always like to get things right, and since I write so much, and have no copy-editor or fact-checker, having my readers help in those capacities is very much appreciated.