Chinas fi rst cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 is transferred together with a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket from the testing center to the launch zone in Wenchang Space Launch Center， south Chinas Hainan Province， on April 17 before being launched into space three days later.

The mission， including dockings between Tianzhou-1 and the Tiangong-2 space lab， is a crucial step in Chinas plans to establish a space station by 2020.