Vietnam’s first satellite, VINASAT-1, was launched into orbit with help of an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Union Arianespace launching pad at Kourou, French Guyana, at 5:17 a.m of April 19 (Vietnam time).
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, who is head of the National Steering Committee for VINASAT-1 project, were among other senior officials watching the historical event televised live at the International Conventional Hall in Hanoi .

Speaking after the launch, PM Dung said, “VINASAT-1 project is politically, economically and socially important for the country and represents Vietnam’s claim for national sovereignty in the outer space.”
PM Dung believed that VINASAT-1 provides an important telecommunications channel linking Vietnam with other nations.

The launch makes Vietnam the 93rd country in the world and the sixth in the region having deployed its own satellite in space.

Boasting the transmission capacity equivalent to 10,000 telephone, Internet and data transmission channels or 120 digital television channels, VINASAT-1 will bring telecom, Internet and television services to people in remote, mountainous areas and islands in Vietnam .

VINASAT-1, with 4 metres in height and 2,600 kg in weight and prospective life of 15-20 years, was built by the US’s Lockheed Martin at the cost of close to 300 million USD.

The satellite is scheduled to reach 132 degrees east on space, a position that Vietnam registered with the International Telecommunications Union in 1999, eight days after the launch.

Lockheed Martin plans to complete the handover to the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications General Corporation (VNPT) to put the satellite into use in June this year.

Source: VNA