The research and development of a cargo transport spacecraft is proceeding smoothly. It will be launched together with Tiangong-2. Its main role will be to transport propellant, materials for space life, and equipment for scientific experiments, and retrieval of space junk. According to Zhang Bainan, deputy of National People's Congress and chief designer of manned spacecraft series of the Manned Space Station Project of the Fifth Research Institute of CASC), the cargo transport spacecraft is still in the experimental phase .

"Once the experiments are successful, the cargo transport spacecraft will carry out return transport tasks just like the Shenzhou spacecraft," said Zhang. In due course it will be normal procedure for a cargo transport spacecraft to be launched.

Zhang also said that he had submitted a proposal on spaceflight legislation to the "two sessions". Although China has already set up a legal system, the laws on some new strategic fields are still incomplete. For example, China still does not have optimized and complete laws covering the ocean, space flight, and the Internet.

"All these departments were state-owned enterprises and had their own management channels in the past," says Zhang. "However, some problems can occur. For example, how should we normalize commercial space flights? This would require explicit legislative provisions and cannot merely rely on administration." The government should reinforce legislation on spaceflight, normalize the entire space flight activity, perform international obligations, and further protect Chinese space rights and interests.

The article is edited and translated from《货运飞船将随天宫二号上天，研制成功后发射将成常态》, source: Beijing Times, author: Chen Qiao.