The Space Race: Philippines has a satellite too!

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Many things have happened since Man stepped foot on the moon 40 years ago. The space race has definitely persisted beyond the Cold War which triggered the Space Race actually. It used to be between the United States and former USSR. Since then, many countries have also launched their own man-made satellites, including the Philippines. For an official list of countries with man-made satellites launched into orbit, click here.

The Philippine satellite is named Mabuhay I, also called Agila 2. It is a communications satellite launched in 1997, providing telecommunications services for the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation. According to wikipedia, the satellite provides the most powerful coverage in the Asia-Pacific region.

The satellite was deployed to orbit by a Chinese Long March 3B rocket in Sichuan province, on 20 August 1997. It is expected to achieve a mission lifetime of more than 15 years. Agila is a Filipino word for Eagle, which in a sense is a tribute to the endangered and endemic species of eagle, The Philippine monkey-eating eagle.

Unfortunately, no Filipino astronaut or cosmonaut has been deployed into space. Many nations have sent a few of their citizens into various space programs already. It would be nice to see the First Filipino to ever fly into space, or even set foot on the moon as well. Filipinos have conquered Mt. Everest. I wonder when will we ever see a Filipino conquer space as well?

Juan's small step for man....

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