Skeleton involves a person riding a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down. The sport is a more intense form of luge because skeleton competitors leap onto the sled and slide downhill head first. Skeleton athletes can reach up to 80 mph on straightaways, causing forces up to 5g, so the helmet is a critical component for attitude as well as safety.

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)

Students pose for a pictures taken by their friends during spring break on the beach in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico, February 27, 2009. (Photo by Israel Leal/AP Photo)

The beautiful shots were taken by photographer Amos Chapple using a camera mounted to a quadcopter drone. This enabled him to capture these unusual aerials showing some of Europe’s sights like they’ve never been seen before. Travelling across the continent he took photos everywhere from France and Germany to Spain and Russia. Photo: Clouds swirl through the pillars of Sagrat Cor Church, high on a hill above Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Amos Chapple/Rex Features)

Tourists pose with pigeons in the flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, on November 7, 2014. The high water, a combination of high tides and a strong Scirocco wind in the Adriatic Sea, stood at 110 centimeters early on November 7. The city has for years been wrestling with the problems posed by the threat of rising sea levels. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)

Customers take photos of a snake at the Tokyo Snake Center, a snake cafe, in Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district August 14, 2015. The cafe has on display 35 non-venomous snakes of 20 different breeds. Open six days a week, the cafe allows customers to enjoy food and beverages while watching a small snake slither around in a cage on their table for a 1,000 yen (8.04 dollars). By paying an additional fee, customers get to hold and pet the snake. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Mikayla Kelly poses during The SMASH – Sydney Manga and Anime Show at Rosehill Gardens on August 8, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

A Hindu devotee performs a ritual on Bagmati River during Kuse Aunse (Father's Day) at Gokarna Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal September 13, 2015. Hindus all over the country, whose fathers have passed away, come to the temple for worship, holy dips, and to present offerings on this occasion. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)