PANO - At 5.49 am on May 16th, the Ariane-5 rocket completed its flight to put two satellites, Vietnam’s VINASAT-2 and Japan’s JCSAT-13, into orbit from the Kourou launching pad in Guyana.

At 5.13am, Ariane-5 lifted off and it took 36 minutes to reach orbit. There, VINASAT-2 split from Ariane-5 and moved to the position of 131.8 degree east, 0.2 degree far from VINASAT-1, on the orbit.

Witnessing the successful launch of VINASAT-2 in Hanoi, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highly appreciated the great efforts of VNPT, the Ministry of Information and Communications, partnerships and contractors in implementing this meaningful project of the nation. He asked VNPT to quickly and effectively exploit this satellite.

The Prime Minister stressed that the project partly confirmed the determination that IT and Communications would be a driving force to ensure the growth and stable development of the country. The target of this project was to make Vietnam a strong country in IT and telecommunications.

The launch of VINASAT-2, the second satellite of Vietnam, into space affirmed Vietnam’s position in space and contributed to promoting the image of Vietnam on the international arena.

VINASAT-2, weighing around 3 tons, will be operational over 15 years. VINASAT-2 will focus on the Ku-band transponders, which provide radio, television and telephone transmission services for all of Vietnam and other parts of the Southeast Asia region.

Reported by Van Phong

Translated by Mai Huong