[Launch Alert] Falcon 9 Launches from Vandenberg

[Launch Alert]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From: 30th Space Wing Public Affairs, www.vandenberg.af.mil

FALCON 9 LAUNCHES FROM VANDENBERG

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -  Team Vandenberg launched the FORMOSAT-5 
satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 here 
Thursday, Aug. 24, at 11:51 a.m. PDT.

Col. Gregory E. Wood , 30th Space Wing vice commander, was the launch safety 
authority.

"The 30th Space Wing takes great pride in supporting another successful SpaceX 
launch," said Wood. "It is a sterling example of the wing's commitment to 
public safety and mission success on the Western Range."

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket delivers FORMOSAT-5, an Earth observation satellite 
for Taiwan's National Space Organization, to a low-Earth orbit.

"The Falcon 9 launch of Formosat-5 was an incredible mission to be a part of! 
This was the first satellite manufactured and integrated entirely by Taiwan 
and it was also the fastest turn-around time between Falcon launches here at 
Space Launch Complex-4," said Capt. Kylie Prachar, Air Force Launch Commander 
for F9-40 Formosat-5 mission, 1st Air and Space Test Squadron. "Our Air Force 
team put in a lot of work to support the mission and provide Fleet 
Surveillance on behalf of the Space and Missile Systems Center."

FORMOSAT-5 will operate in a sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 720-km 
with a 98.28 degree inclination angle. As with the FORMOSAT-2 satellite, the 
primary payload on FORMOSAT-5 is an optical Remote Sensing Instrument (RSI), 
which provides 2-meter resolution panchromatic (black & white) and 4-meter 
resolution multi-spectral (color) images. FORMOSAT-5 also hosts a secondary 
scientific payload, an Advanced Ionospheric Probe, developed by Taiwan's 
National Central University.