“Google is launching balloons into near space to provide internet access to buildings below on the ground. About 30 of the superpressure balloons are being launched from New Zealand from where they will drift around the world on a controlled path. Attached equipment will offer 3G-like speeds to 50 testers in the country”. – BBC News. Photo: A Google balloon sails through the air with the Southern Alps mountains in the background, in Tekapo, New Zealand. (Photo by Jon Shenk/Associated Press)

Google's vice president Alan Eustace looks out of his spacesuit into the stratosphere prior to a record-breaking skydive over New Mexico, in this still image taken from video October 24, 2014, a handout courtesy of the Paragon Space Development Corporation. Eustace was lifted up 135,890 ft (41,420 metres) by an enormous balloon while wearing a specially designed pressurized space suit, the Paragon Space Development Corporation said. Eustace remained in a free fall for approximately 4.5 minutes before landing safely nearly 70 miles (43.4 kms) from his launch point, setting a world record for the highest skydive and breaking the sound barrier in the process. Eustace landed safely on the ground just 15 minutes after he was lifted into the air. (Photo by Reuters/Paragon Space Development Corporation)

A man photographs the main engines of the space shuttle orbiter Discovery on display at the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian National Air and Space Annex Museum in Chantilly, Virginia August 28, 2015. Shuttle Discovery had 27 years of service and flew 39 times before being retired in 2011. (Photo by Gary Cameron/Reuters)

Barneys New York launches Gaga's Workshop with the inflation of the Gaga Spider Balloon at the corner of 23rd and Broadway on November 21, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Barneys New York)

A model showcases designs on the runway at MGPIN 2015 Mao Geping Makeup Trends Launch show during Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015 at Beijing Hotel on October 27, 2014 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

Victoria's Secret Angels Candice Swanepoel and Miranda Kerr Launch The 2012 VS Swim Collection at The Thompson Hotel on March 29, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret)

The space shuttle Endeavour is transported to the California Science Center in Exposition Park from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian)

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)