The Long March-7 rocket will carry the launch mission for the Tianzhou-6 cargo ship to send supplies to China's space station and astronauts in the low orbit of some 400 kilometers above Earth.

It's code-named Y7 as this is the seventh launch of the carrier rocket and this is also the first launch mission for the space station since it began its stage of application and development at the start of this year.

In the assembly building at Wenchang Space Launch Site before the launch vehicle was transported to the launch pad on Sunday, a senior designer introduced the Tianzhou-6 mission to CGTN, the cargo spaceship increased lift-off weight of 500 kilograms.

"The carrier rocket Long March-7 would keep the same launch capacity and precision to send payloads into orbit," said Lyu Jianqiang, chief designer of Long March-7 Guidance System at China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

"Since its maiden flight in 2016, the rocket has been getting more stable and precise in flight. With these developments, we keep updating the technology and making progress," Lyu said.

Based on its predecessors like the Long March-2F for manned missions, the Long March-7 is designed specifically for cargo supplies to low-Earth orbit.

Its design adopts the modular research and development and has the advantage of reliability and relatively low cost.

"As new types are derived, like the Long March-8 and the Long March-7A, this helps us realize a graded distribution of carrying capacity of rockets to different space levels," the designer said. 

For Lyu and many other team members, the rocket is like their child, and they are glad to see it grow and mature, especially for the first flight for the operation phase of the China Space Station. 

"As the members for the main rocket of cargo supplies, we must make sure its progress, precision and high quality and effectiveness for each mission, to lay a good foundation for the station and offer very good support for astronauts in space," he said.