China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, blasted off on Thursday evening aboard a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province.
The Tianzhou-1 is scheduled to dock with the Tiangong-2 space lab in orbit soon and test liquid propellant transfer in microgravity.
The mission will mark the next phase in China’s step-by-step approach to establish a permanently manned space station by 2022.
Aside from refueling capabilities, Tianzhou-1 is also designed to resupply astronauts on a future Chinese space station with food, water, and other supplies.
2313km
