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)

Aurora Australis from Beerbarrel Beach, by James Stone. Runner Up: Aurorae. (Photo by James Stone/Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

A macaque crosses a pedestrian overpass in Hong Kong, China, 08 November 2021. According the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, AFCD, the total population of wild monkeys in Hong Kong is about 1,800, distributed in 30 social troops. (Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA/EFE)

The photo taken on September 17, 2024 shows a villager walking over burning charcoal to perform a traditional fire-walking ritual called “Lianhuo” at Shuangfeng village in Jinhua, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Naruemol Thonglek, right, with her daughter, waits for news of her partner, who is missing after the collapse of an under-construction high-rise building after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, March, 31, 2025. (Photo by Manish Swarup/AP Photo)

UK “Ex on the Beach” star Chloe Goodman rocks some serious sideboob in a slinky green outfit on a night out in London, England on September 13, 2016. (Photo by XposurePhotos.com)

Children play near an apartment complex on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar on July 29, 2019. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)

The Jeremy Scott Fall 2016 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Monday, February 15, 2016. (Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo)