China launches Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - China on Monday launched a cargo spacecraft for its under-construction space station, the state-run CGTN news site reported.

CGTN said the Long March-7 Y5 rocket carried the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft into space from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s Hainan province.

The mission will "prepare the space station for the arrival of its next astronaut crew, scheduled for June," it said.

China’s first Mars exploration mission, Tianwen-1, successfully landed on the planet in May last year.

It also launched its first space station core module Tianhe and cargo freighters Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3.

China also carried out two crewed flights of the Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13 spacecraft, four extravehicular activities and a live class from the space station.