SpaceX craft called a threat

China is calling on the U.S. to protect a Chinese space station and its three-member crew after Beijing complained that satellites launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX nearly struck the station. A foreign ministry spokesman accused Washington of ignoring its treaty obligations to protect the safety of the Tiangong station’s threemember crew following the July 1 and Oct. 21 incidents. The Tiangong performed “evasive maneuvers” to “prevent a potential collision” with Starlink satellites launched by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the government said in a Dec. 6 complaint to the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

SpaceX plans to launch some 2,000 Starlink satellites as part of a global internet system to bring internet access to underserved areas.