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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.