BEIJING: China plans to launch its first cargo spacecraft in April 2017, state media reported on Tuesday, taking a step towards its goal of establishing a permanently manned space station by 2022.
President Xi Jinping has prioritised advancing China’s space programme, saying it was needed to enhance national security and defence.
The Tianzhou-1 cargo resupply spacecraft would be carried into space by a Long March-7 Y2 rocket launched from Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre in south China’s island province of Hainan, the daily reported, citing the China Manned Space Agency.
The Tianzhou-1 is designed to dock with the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, or “Heavenly Palace 2”, which China used to carry out its longest ever manned space mission last October, sending two astronauts into space for a month aboard the laboratory.
The spacecraft could carry six tonnes of goods, two tonnes of fuel and can fly unmanned for three months.
