Wikipedia
Shavit ( Hebrew: " comet" – שביט) is a space launch vehicle produced by Israel to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit. It was first launched on September 19, 1988 (carrying an Ofeq satellite payload), making Israel the eighth nation to have a space launch capability after the USSR, United States, France, Japan, United Kingdom, People's Republic of China, and India.
Shavit rockets are launched from Palmachim Airbase by the Israel Space Agency into highly retrograde orbits over the Mediterranean Sea to prevent debris coming down in populated areas and also to avoid flying over nations hostile to Israel to the east; this results in a lower payload-to-orbit than east-directed launches would allow. The launcher consists of three stages powered by solid-fuel rocket motors, with an optional liquid-fuel fourth stage, and is manufactured by IAI.
The Republic of South Africa produced and tested a licensed version in cooperation with Israel called the RSA-3 in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to produce a domestic satellite launch vehicle and ballistic missile; the program was closed in 1994.
An earlier unrelated project called Shavit 2 was the first Israeli sounding rocket, launched on 5 July 1961 for meteorological research. Shavit Three, with an altitude reported as 100 miles, was launched on 11 August 1961.