1988Technology
Israel launches its first satellite on a rocket built at home.
On 19 September 1988 a Shavit rocket carries Ofek-1 into orbit from Palmachim Air Force Base.
The story in numbers.
117
days in orbit
SourceGunter's Space Page
2.3 m
tall, an eight-sided aluminium body
SourceGunter's Space Page
5
years from agency founding to launch
SourceJewish Virtual Library
Here is how it happened.
1983
The Israel Space Agency is established.
It coordinates private and academic research in electronics, computers, electro-optics and imaging. Some of that work had already run for 20 years under a national committee.
SourceJewish Virtual Library
1988
Israeli industry builds both the satellite and the rocket.
Israel Aircraft Industries builds Ofek-1 for the Israel Space Agency. The Shavit rocket that carries it is also made in Israel.
SourceGunter's Space Page
A Shavit 2 rocket lifts off from Palmachim in 2007, a later launch of the same rocket family. File photo by התעשייה האווירית., CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
19 September 1988
A Shavit rocket lifts Ofek-1 into orbit from Palmachim.
Because of Israel’s geography, the satellite goes into a retrograde orbit, against the direction of the Earth’s spin.
SourceGunter's Space Page
1988 to 1989
Ofek-1 tests solar power and measures the space environment.
It tests solar power, transmission and reception, and gathers data on conditions in space. It stays up until 14 January 1989.
SourceGunter's Space Page
April 1990
Ofek-2 follows, and both satellites send back useful data.
The Israel Space Agency's first two satellites send back a stream of technical information. Both re-enter the atmosphere within six months of launch.
SourceJewish Virtual Library
1 of 5
Here is why it matters.
Ofek-1 showed that Israel could build a satellite, launch it on its own rocket and keep it working in space. It was expected to last a few weeks and stayed up for months.
Three more milestones to read next.
A full-scale model of Beresheet in Habima Square, Tel Aviv. File photo by TaBaZzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2019
Beresheet, Israel's first Moon mission, reaches lunar orbit but is lost in landing.
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WEIZAC at the Weizmann Institute. File photo by Yuval Madar, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
1954
WEIZAC, Israel's first computer, starts running.
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An Iron Dome battery near Ashkelon. File photo by Israel Defense Forces, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2011
Iron Dome intercepts its first rocket, a Grad fired toward Ashkelon.
Read the story
Where each fact was read.
Sources read on 1 November 2026.