On Sunday, three Chinese astronauts manually docked their craft with the Tiangong 1 space module, which is due to be replaced by a permanent space station around 2020.

Yes, China is just repeating achievements weve already pulled off but the United States cant even launch its own astronauts these days. So the news confirms what analysts have warned about for years: America is steadily losing the race for space.

The implications are huge, especially for our national security.

Chinas equivalent of NASA isnt about scientific research or space rides; its an arm of the Peoples Liberation Army. So, while the Obama administration has largely ceded leadership in space flight to Russia and private firms like Space X, China is gearing for something that will give the phrase Star Wars a whole new meaning.

AP

Another advance: Chinas first woman in space, Lin Yang, 34, was one of the astronauts on the docking mission.

Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess of the Pentagons Defense Intelligence Agency, warns that Chinas real goal is to find ways to deny or degrade the space assets of potential adversaries like the United States, while building up their own military capabilities, including beyond the Earths atmosphere.

In that sense, the space-docking exercise is just one more landmark in an anti-satellite warfare program thats been aimed at us since 2007, when China successfully tested its first satellite-killing ballistic missile.

Then, in January 2011, it sent up a highly sophisticated out-of-the-atmosphere kinetic kill vehicle (or KKV). The Chinese said it was for anti-missile defense. Others, including in the Pentagon, noted that it would work well for shooting down satellites, too. Ian Easton, researcher at a Washington think tank that tracks Chinese military trends, said then, The implications of this test are potentially huge in expanding Chinas ability to render our satellite-based Global Positioning System useless.

GPS works by transmitting signals from satellites to receivers on earth, which then automatically coordinate signals from several satellites to give the user information on his location, speed, bearing and more. The more satellites, the more exact the data.

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China’s race to space