An art installation is on display at Gentle Monster's Multi-brand Space – Haus Nowhere Shanghai on March 20, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

China has sent its first woman into space on a mission to dock with an orbiting station, the latest step in an ambitious programme to go to the moon and on to Mars.

Photo: China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, waves during a sending off ceremony before she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

A three minute time exposure shows the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 40, Thursday, January 7, 2021 in Port Canaveral, Fla. The rocket is carrying the Turksat 5A satellite for Turkey. (Photo by Malcolm Denenark/Florida Today via AP Photo)

People visit the art installation “Machine Memories: Space” by Turkish artist Refik Anadol in the exhibition at Pilevneli Art Gallery in I​stanbul, Turkey, 22 March 2021. The exhibition runs until 25 April. (Photo by Sedat Suna/EPA/EFE)

A busy rush hour sees thousands of commuters climbing on board a train – as well as holding onto its sides and sitting on the roof before it speeds off. Men, women and children climb and are pulled up onto the roof of the train, which is around 12ft (3.6m) high, as they try to find themselves a space. With no seats available inside, many commuters decide to take the risk and choose a rooftop view for their journey out of Dhaka city, in Bangladesh. (Photo by Yousuf Tushar/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Brittnai of El Paso, Texas, USA, performs in the Professional Division Competition during the 5th Annual US Pole Dance Championship on April 1, 2017 at the Symphony Space Theater in New York City. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Model mum Valeria Garcia walks Marta Jakubowski's SS19 show wearing world first silent wearable breast pump: Elvie Pump at BFC Show Space on September 14, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Elvie)

Santa Claus reacts as (L) Tami McEleney and (R) Patrice Conner whisper in his ear at the King of Prussia Mall, United States' largest retail shopping space, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, U.S., December 8, 2018. (Photo by Mark Makela/Reuters)