Chinese social media users have attacked Elon Musk after satellites of SpaceX, his private rocket company, forced the country’s space station to manoeuvre out of the way to avoid collisions twice this year.
The country’s mission to the UN complained this month that the Chinese space station had to take “preventive collision avoidance control” measures in October and July to “ensure the safety and lives of in-orbit astronauts”.
China said the two satellites from SpaceX’s Starlink internet network were moving dangerously and alleged that one had an unpredictable “manoeuvre strategy”. Beijing did not say how close the spacecraft had come to a collision.