Elon Musk's SpaceX satellites came close to space station twice: China

Beijing, December 28 China on Tuesday alleged that US billionaire Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s satellites had two “close encounters” with its space station in orbit, and has complained to the UN about the incidents, which endangered the safety of its astronauts....

Tribune Web Desk

Updated At : 02:31 PM Dec 29, 2021 IST

Beijing, December 28

China on Tuesday alleged that US billionaire Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s satellites had two “close encounters” with its space station in orbit, and has complained to the UN about the incidents, which endangered the safety of its astronauts.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the Chinese space station was forced to avoid collisions with satellites launched by Musk’s Starlink Internet Services project. “I can confirm that in July and October this year, SpaceX satellite links made close encounters with China’s space station twice,” Zhao said.

“Out of security reasons, the Chinese space station adopted preventive collision avoidance control measures,” he said. Zhao said China had complained to the UN Secretary on December 3 about the SpaceX satellites’ close encounters under the principles of Outer Space Treaty. — PTI

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