Cargo spacecraft to launch in April

China plans to launch its first cargo spacecraft via a Long March 7 Y2 carrier rocket in April, sources said on Monday.

The Tianzhou 1 cargo craft, which was transported from Tianjin on Feb 5, arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Monday for assembly and testing, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

Consisting of a cargo capsule and a propellent capsule, Tianzhou 1, the first cargo spacecraft independently developed by China, has a take off weight of about 13 metric tons, up to 6 tons of which can be payload. It can remain in space for as long as threemonths.