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c0lo [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Guardian reports [theguardian.com] on the Tianzhou-1's, China’s first automated cargo spacecraft, first mission to the station:

China’s first cargo spacecraft docked successfully with the Tiangong-2 space lab on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, marking a major step towards Beijing’s goal of establishing a permanently manned space station by 2022. ...

The Tianzhou-1 cargo resupply spacecraft made the automated docking process with the orbiting space lab after it had taken off on Thursday evening from the Wenchang satellite launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan....

The cargo spacecraft mission provides an “important technological basis” to build a Chinese space station, state media have said. It can reportedly carry six tonnes of goods, two tonnes of fuel and can fly unmanned for three months.

Seems like Cold War era again:

President Xi Jinping has prioritised advancing China’s space programme to strengthen national security.,,,

The US Defense Department has highlighted China’s increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations from using space-based assets in a crisis.

China insists it has only peaceful ambitions in space, but has tested anti-satellite missiles.

2007 - Chinese anti-satellite missile test [wikipedia.org]

1985 - American anti-satellite missile test [wikipedia.org]

Chinese exclusion policy of NASA [wikipedia.org]

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