[3][4] In 2016, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay mentioned plans to set up a space agency with Bhutan's Information and Communications Ministry.

BHUTAN-1 was designed by Bhutanese graduate students who were pursuing their master's degree at Kyutech (Kyushu Institute of Technology).

[5] BHUTAN-1 was launched to space on 29 June 2018, via the Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket at Cape Canaveral in Florida, as part of the SpaceX CRS-15 Commercial Resupply Service mission.

[10] BHUTAN-1 was deployed from Kibō module of the International Space Station (ISS) in August 2018, becoming the first Bhutanese satellite.

BHUTAN-1's two cameras captured satellite imagery of Bhutan to help assess the country's glaciers, lakes, and forest cover.

[6] While BHUTAN-1 was built solely by the Bhutanese, the satellite was jointly controlled and operated by the Bhutan, Malaysia, and Philippines.