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)

Wild foxes walk in front of a launch pad prior the launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, July 7, 2016. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Kate Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, and Japan astronaut Takuya Onishi. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Estonia's olympic team female marathon runners triplets (L-R) Lily, Liina and Leila Luik run during a training session in Tartu, Estonia, May 26, 2016. Leila, Liina and Lily Luik will make Olympics history as the first identical triplets to compete against each other when they cross the start line for the women's marathon in Rio. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

Model Bella Hadid at The Gilded Lily after party for the release of Bella Hadid Paper Magzine cover on December 16, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Lipson/BFA/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Lily Donaldson attends the “Loveless (Nelyubov)” screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

A young farmer harvests water lilies from a canal in Barisal, Bangladesh on October 12, 2019, where the flowers cover the 10,000-acre waterway, to take to nearby markets. (Photo by Azim Khan Ronnie/Caters News Agency)

English actress Lily James attends the “What's Love Got To Do With It?” UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on February 13, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Zak Hussein/Splash News and Pictures)

US-British actress Lily Collins arrives for the 2023 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP Photo)