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)

Two chimpanzees share a piece of watermelon at Taronga Zoo on December 23, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Rick Stevens/Taronga Zoo via Getty Images)

A young boy adjusts his friend's Adolf Hitler mask during a game on a street in King's Cross, London. (Photo by William Vanderson/Getty Images). 1938

“There Were Early Indications that Maxine was Not a Good Fit for the Surgical Team”. (Photo by Studio d'Xavier)

German photographer Tobias Lang had a brilliant idea, he started photographing his friends and their pets and suddenly folks from all over the world where asking him to capture them too. Check out his Facebook page to see. Tobias is in the process of putting together a coffee table book of his impressive collection. Photo: Pet owner Isabel with her blind housecat, “Captain Jack”. (Photo by Tobias Lang)

In this March 13, 2015 photo, Yohan, 4, from left, Cristian, 7, and Angelo, 6, playfully toss coca leaves into the air, singing: “I have a lot of money, look at all the money I have”, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Hauling cocaine out of the remote valley is about the only way to earn decent cash in this region where a farmhand earns less than $10 a day. Beyond extinguishing young lives, the practice has packed Peru's highland prisons with cocaine backpackers while their bosses evade incarceration. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Women wearing face-kini masks lie on a beach to rest in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, June 3, 2015. A pale complexion is highly prized as delicate and feminine in China while dark skin suggests tanning caused by farming the fields or other lowly, outdoor work. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A fishing boat arrives at the port in Plobannalec-Lesconil, western France, October 22, 2025, as huge waves and strong winds hit the coast at the passage of the storm Benjamin. (Photo by Fred Tanneau/AFP Photo)