Well, it was front page news - in China. I think internationally there are equally (if not more) important stories happening right now. Manned space-flight isn't a new concept...readers may not be that interested in it.
There were a multitude of important stories happening on Sunday outside of China: Egypt democratically electing its first president, for example. Editors make a call on which stories readers will find most interesting. The front-page is what sells the newspaper.
It is not as if the story was ignored - I think most Western news sources gave it coverage (certainly the ones I read did). But I also think in many countries right now other domestic and international issues (the Arab Spring, the Eurozone Crisis, the US election, etc etc) are of far greater interest to the public. And that's what sells newspapers / gets hits.
The cargo mission to the ISS by SpaceX made more splash. At least online and at blogs or wired/reddit. I guess the commercial aspect and underdog status made it more reliable for readers than rooting for Chinas ambitions.
But I think you are right, the story of Chinas successful start was not ignored by mass media. It just was not front page material.
It would be really nice if competition with China in these endeavours prompts a second space race (faster that just the SpaceX et al are going currently). Put some real life into plans to get humanity permanently into space, not just in Earth orbit.
Although, there is the risk that space becomes militarised, which would probably be worse that the current situation: scientific satellites would be at risk, especially Earth-observing ones, and we would have a second Cold War.
China could do the trick that USA used to defeat USSR. Namely - start a new space/technology/military race, and use its bigger industrial base to ensure USA defaults.
But USA would probably just accept it lost the race, and not bankrupt.
(the other: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4156153)
And both of them with gratuitously editorialised titles, at that.
http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like ... adding a parenthetical remark saying how great an article is.
You can make up a new title if you want, but if you put gratuitous editorial spin on it, the editors may rewrite it.