As the countdown approached zero simultaneously at Taiwan and United States, Minotaur rocket lifted off from Vandenberg at 9:40AM, April 15th of 2006, Taiwan time. Six FORMOSAT-3 spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and entered designated orbit. Seven hour and 52 minutes after the launch, ground station located at Taiwan received telemetry from FORMOSAT-3 confirming that the spacecraft were all in normal conditions. NSPO operation team has started to perform the early orbit satellite state of health checkout.