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 girl plays with coloured chicks for sale prior to Easter celebrations in Byblos, Lebanon on March 22, 2015. (Photo by Jamal Saidi/Reuters)

A woman plays around as she walks across a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern China's Hunan province Thursday, September 24, 2015. The bridge, 300 meters (984 feet) long and 180 meters (590 feet), opened to visitors on Thursday for the first time since its conversion from a regular suspension bridge was completed. (Photo by Chinatopix Via AP Photo)

Workers from the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium and Imagine Exhibitions put together an animatronic spinosaurus outside the science center in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, October 27, 2015. The giant spinosaurus is part of the Dinosaurs Around the World exhibit, set to open on November 1. (Photo by Maria Lorenzino/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Photo)

Danila Shmelev, an artist from Moscow, Russia, works on a 3-D picture in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, February 27, 2017. Artists who focus on 3-D pictures have gathered in Dubai for the Dubai Canvas 3-D Art Festival, which runs from March 1 through March 7. (Photo by Jon Gambrell/AP Photo)

A staff member sets up a ROBOTLEO robot at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) 2017 in Beijing, China April 28, 2017. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Model Kendall Jenner attends the “120 Battements Par Minutes (120 Beats Per Minute)” screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

People look at the Turrialba volcano as it spewes ashes on May 20, 2016, in Cartago, Costa Rica. The Turrialba volcano started erupting columns of smoke and ash that the wind extended towards the Costa Rican capital, in what according to experts is the strongest eruption in the past six years. (Photo by Ezequiel Becerra/AFP Photo)