The Queen Mary 2 is saluted by the HMB Endeavour, the replica of Captain James Cook's ship, on March 4, 2012 off the coast of Victoria, Australia. (Photo by James Morgan/Carnival Australia via Getty Images)

Kat Von D attends her first solo art show “New American Beauty” at Sephora Antara store on March 1, 2012 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Victor Chavez/Getty Images For Sephora)

Actor Danny DeVito attends the “Dr. Seuss' The Lorax” (Der Lorax) Germany Photocall at Ritz Carlton on March 5, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Police take part in a role play exercise as they clear a protest on top of a train during training on March 6, 2012 in Oxenhope, England. A new team of specialist officers set up to deal with searches and policing at a height, such as on top of a train, undergo training exercise in Oxenhope, West Yorkshire. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

The Brooklyn Bridge is seen after a crane pulled by a tug boat on the East River slammed into scaffolding beneath the Bridge on March 13, 2012 in New York, NY. According to reports, no damage was done to the structure of the bridge. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Santa, a dog abandoned two days before Christmas, is looked after by Charlene Gunner at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on December 27, 2012 in London, England. The home was founded 150 years ago and has rescued, reunited and rehomed over three million dogs and cats. The average stay for a dog is just 28 days although some stay much longer. Around 550 dogs and 200 cats are provided refuge by Battersea at any given time. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)

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 woman at Foyles bookshop looks at a copy of J. K. Rowling's latest novel “The Casual Vacancy” which has gone on sale today starting at 8:00 am on September 27, 2012 in London, England. “The Casual Vacancy” is J. K. Rowling's first book aimed at an adult readership and is centered on a parish council election in a small West Country town. (Photo by Oli Scarf)