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)

Rachel Hollon of Los Angeles was body painted as Harley Quinn at Comic-Con International in San Diego, USA on Jule 20, 2017. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune via ZUMA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Giant panda Ying Ying rests on a rock in its enclosure while a visitor takes a selfie at Ocean Park in Hong Kong, China, 24 September 2020. An An turned 35 in August. Giant pandas in the wild can live up to 20 years on average, while lifespans of those under human care can reach over 30 years. (Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA/EFE)

Nyaueth by Peter Zelewski – £2,000 third prize winner. This was taken near London’s Oxford Street as part of Zelewski’s series Beautiful Strangers. Zelewski explains: ‘The aim of Beautiful Strangers is to challenge the concept of traditional beauty with a series of spontaneous street portraits of everyday citizens who show character, uniqueness and a special inner quality’. (Photo by Peter Zelewski/Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2015)

Visitors look over masses of ice formed around the Canadian “Horseshoe” Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Thursday, February 19, 2015. (Photo by Aaron Lynett/AP Photo/The Canadian Press)

The song is presented in this publication in two different executions. The first (performed by monastic chorus) – classical, but bad. The second – national, good. Enjoy.

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Food is placed on the tomb of pet dog Xixi at Baifu pet cemetery ahead of the Qingming Festival on the outskirts of Beijing, China March 26, 2016. The Chinese characters on the gravestone read: “Mommy's only good son”. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

A young Afghan vendor waits for customers to buy sheep's heads at a roadside stall at the busy market in Kabul on November 29, 2015. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)