Just before dawn, a weapons carrier bounced over scrub-spotted sand dunes to a secret site near the Mediterranean. Out stepped Israel's Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Foreign Minister Golda Meir. Near the water's edge, a slim rocket loomed 40 ft. up into the night sky.
"What are the chances it will succeed?" asked Ben-Gurion. "Fifty-fifty," was the reply. At 4:41 a.m. came the command "Esh!" (Fire!), and the rocket lifted off.
"It's going up!" shouted the Prime Minister. The solid-fueled, multiple-stage rocket (the number of stages was a military secret) tilted slightly and soared up 50 miles. There it emitted a cloud...
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