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 vervet monkey passes in front of a woman on the shores of lake Naivasha, Kenya January 24, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

This week's full Moon as photographed from on board the International Space Station by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams on August 19, 2016. Jeff is currently Commander of the Space Station for the Expedition 48 crew. (Photo by Jeff Williams/NASA)

A Soyuz MS-11 rocket carrying Russian, American and Canadian astronauts takes off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 3, 2018 before reached orbit later, the first manned mission since a failed launch in October. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)

Advanced Space Suit Engineer at NASA Kristine Davis wears the xEMU prototype space suit for the next astronaut to the moon by 2024, during its presentation at NASA headquarters in Washington, U.S., October 15, 2019. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

An orphaned rhesus monkey and white dove that seemed to have lost its mate forged a special bond at the Neilingding Island-Futian National Nature Reserve in China. The monkey was born on the island but had strayed from its mother. Luckily, it was taken in by work staff in the protection center and became friends with the pigeon that had lingered there after possibly losing its mate. (Photo by CNImaging/Photoshot)

A long-tailed monkey, wearing jeans and a doll's head perform on the streets of Boyolali, Central Java Indonesia. Primates are used by owners to beg at crossroads, the primate show can earn $ 5 per day. Begging using long-tailed monkeys is opposed by animal lovers community as it is considered to torture and degrade animal health. (Photo by Arief Setiadi/Pacific Press/Barcroft Images)

A man sits with his pet monkey, as they seek charity from passersby, along a road amidst rainfall during the monsoon season in Hyderabad, Pakistan on August 24, 2022. (Photo by Yasir Rajput/Reuters)