In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “launch vehicle produced by israel”. Today it says “small lift launch vehicle produced by israel from 1982 onwards”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “launch vehicle produced by israel”. Today it says “small lift launch vehicle produced by israel from 1982 onwards”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Shavit ( Hebrew : " comet ") is a launch vehicle produced by Israel .1It was first launched on September 19 , 1988 , allowing Israel to become the eighth country to have a space launch capability.2Shavit was based on the Jericho II intermediate range ballistic missile and is launched from the Negev desert by the Israel Space Agency into a retrograde orbit to prevent debris from landing in Arab territory. v t e v t e3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16550411.
The opening as it stood in 2010 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
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 country to have a space launch capability after the USSR , United States , France , Japan , People's Republic of China , United Kingdom and India .Shavit rockets are launched from Palmachim Airbase by the Israeli Space Agency into a retrograde orbit 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.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370077178.
The opening as it stood in 2015
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 , People's Republic of China , United Kingdom and India . Shavit rockets are launched from Palmachim Airbase by the Israeli Space Agency into a 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 sounding rocket which Israel launched on 5 July 1961 for meteorological research.Shavit Three, with an altitude reported as 100 miles, was launched on August 11, 1961.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 651821384.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Shavit ( Hebrew : " comet " – שביט) is a small lift launch vehicle produced by Israel from 1982 onwards, to launch satellites into orbit . It was first launched on September 19, 1988 (carrying an Ofeq satellite payload), making Israel the eighth nation to have an orbital launch capability after the USSR , United States , France , Japan , People’s Republic of China , United Kingdom , and India . The Shavit project is believed to have been an offshoot development, resulting from Israel's Jericho nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile program. 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 South African 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.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 960914156.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Small lift launch vehicle produced by Israel from 1982 onwards For the village in Iran sometimes Romanized as "Shavit", see Shavi, Dezful . 31°54′N 34°42′E  /  31.900°N 34.700°E  / 31.900; 34.700 Shavit 2 ( Hebrew : " comet " – שביט) is a small lift launch vehicle produced by Israel from 1982 onwards, to launch satellites into low Earth orbit .It was first launched on 19 September 1988 (carrying an Ofek-1 satellite payload), making Israel the eighth nation to have an orbital launch capability after the USSR , United States, France, Japan, People's Republic of China , United Kingdom, and India. The Shavit 2 project is believed to have been an offshoot development, resulting from Israel's Jericho nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. 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 Israel Aircraft Industries (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 South African 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 (160 km), was launched on 11 August 1961."Shavit", Space launch systems , Deagel "Astronautix leolinklk-1 Review" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178617919.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Small lift launch vehicle produced by Israel from 1982 onwards Shavit 2 ( Hebrew : " comet " – שביט) is a small lift launch vehicle produced by Israel from 1982 onwards, to launch satellites into low Earth orbit . It was first launched on 19 September 1988 (carrying an Ofek-1 satellite payload), making Israel the eighth nation to have an orbital launch capability after the USSR , United States, France, Japan, People's Republic of China , United Kingdom, and India. The Shavit 2 project is believed to have been an offshoot development, resulting from Israel's Jericho nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. 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 Israel Aircraft Industries (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 South African 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 (160 km), was launched on 11 August 1961. "Shavit", Space launch systems , Deagel "Astronautix leolinklk-1 Review" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294176807. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “launch vehicle produced by israel”. Today it says “small lift launch vehicle produced by israel from 1982 onwards”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
launch vehicle produced by israel
Now
small lift launch vehicle produced by israel from 1982 onwards
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.