On Aug. 19, 1997, the Philippines launched its own satellite for the first time.

Before then, the country's only communications satellite was one that had been purchased from Indonesia after it was already in orbit. One year later, the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation sent their own satellite into orbit using a Chinese Long March 3B rocket. The new satellite was named Agila-2 in honor of the great Philippine eagle. To this day, it provides the most powerful satellite coverage in Asia and the Pacific. In 2009, the Philippines sold it to the Asia Broadcast Satellite company.