DHAKA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- May 12 is a red-letter day for Bangladesh when the country moved to a new era by launching its first "Bangabandhu-1" satellite.

The launch made Bangladesh the 57th nation in the world and fourth in South Asia after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to own a satellite.

Early on Saturday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Falcon-9 rocket of SpaceX propelled the satellite into space at about 2:14 a.m. Bangladesh local time.

"With this we entered a new era," said Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a message on Saturday.

She expressed her thanks to the satellite building and launching company, the U.S. and the French governments and their peoples for their support.

She also thanked Russia for renting its orbital slot to Bangladesh.

Once the satellite becomes active at its orbital slot, it will be reportedly controlled from three stations in the United States, Italy and South Korea for about a month.

Finally, the satellite will be controlled and maintained from ground stations in Bangladesh.

The satellite was successfully deployed at Bangladesh's specified orbit slot "within 36 minutes" of the launch and two ground stations in Bangladed received test signals from it, Bangladeshi State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak told journalists at the Kennedy Space Center,

He, along with hundreds of Bangladeshis including Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, watched the first 36 minutes of the launch.

Many in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country reportedly gathered in front of TV screenes early on Saturday to see the satellite's live launch.

In September 2016, Bangladesh signed a 14-billion-taka (about 180 million U.S. dollars) loan agreement with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) to finance the country's first-ever satellite "Bangabandhu-I."

In November 2015, Bangladesh signed a 19.51-billion-taka (about 248 million U.S.dollars) deal with French firm Thales Alenia Space for the satellite project.

The Bangladeshi government has purchased a 119.1 east longitude orbital slot from Russia-based Intersputnik for 15 years for 28 million U.S. dollars.