Shavit 2 was the first sounding rocket

Sounding rocket

A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into...

 which Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 launched on 5 July 1961 for meteorological research. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gK24aORawV4C&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=%22shavit+2%22+1961&source=web&ots=ETHGUbo54y&sig=DM_lomT8olanDrlbP0ifSrr6CCw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=r1FDTCVE4asC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=%22shavit+2%22+1961+-wikipedia&source=web&ots=fAg5gRgrxS&sig=BbAvJHSITKKLciFVvM5MZoKXZ-I&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPA42,M1

Full details of the rocket are still classified. It was a two stages

Multistage rocket

A multistage rocket is a rocket that usestwo or more stages, each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A tandem or serial stage is mounted on top of another stage; a parallel stage is attached alongside another stage. The result is effectively two or more rockets stacked on top of or...

 Solid-fuel rocket, built by RAFAEL Armament Development Authority

RAFAEL Armament Development Authority

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. , known as RAFAEL or Rafael, is an Israeli defense technology company...

. The weight of Shavit 2 was 250 kilogram

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

and its height was 3.76 meters. The rocket achieved top height of 80 kilometers.

The first two stages of the Shavit rocket are similar to those of the Jericho-II Nuclear missile. The third stage is custom designed for orbital insertion.