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 small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on Earth to no more than four hours away”. – Chris Wickham via Reuters. Photo: Artist's impression of Skylon. (Photo by Reaction Engines Ltd)

A polar bear fast asleep at London Zoo. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 1961

Students pose for a pictures taken by their friends during spring break on the beach in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico, February 27, 2009. (Photo by Israel Leal/AP Photo)

A model presents a creation from the Jeremy Scott Spring/Summer 2015 collection during New York Fashion Week September 10, 2014. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

The official name for this tiny speck of land – the size of 12 football pitches – is Hashima, but few call it that. In English, its most commonly used name means “Battleship Island” and, viewed from a certain angle offshore, its silhouette is uncannily dreadnought in nature. It was a mining facility until 1974, when it was abandoned to the elements, before partially reopening as a tourist attraction in 2009. Photo: A decades-old television. (Photo by Mark C. O'Flaherty)

People help a wounded person after Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, attacked people with a knife during a gay pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday, July 30, 2015. Schlissel lunged into a group of revelers leading Jerusalem's annual gay pride parade and stabbed several of them Thursday evening as they marched in the holy city, Israeli police and witnesses said. (Photo by Sebastian Scheiner/AP Photo)

A homeless girl asks for alms outside a coffee shop in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)