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)

A teenager holds a bag of Mangos, a tropical fruit who grow up in threes in Caracas, Venezuela on June 22, 2016. The shortage of food especially in areas in extreme poverty had made Mangos the daily food. (Photo by Alejandro Cegarra/The Washington Post)

Workers transport a model of a dinosaur at the exhibition “World of Dinosaurs” at a former lignite surface mining area in Grosspoesna near Leipzig, central Germany, Wednesday, October 29, 2014. A 100-foot long statue of a dinosaur had to be moved Wednesday because German authorities had deemed it a safety risk. Officials feared the sculpture could cause traffic accidents by distracting drivers on a nearby highway. The reptile, one of 50 species on show in the World of Dinosaurs exhibit near Leipzig, was moved to a less conspicuous position further from the road. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)

“The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (PUMA) is an experimental electrically powered road vehicle created by Segway and adopted by General Motors as a concept vehicle representing the future of urban transportation. It operates on two wheels placed side-by-side, a layout that differs in placement from motorcycles which instead have their two wheels placed at the front and rear”. – Wikipedia

The Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) prototype is displayed for the media April 7, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A young man performs a wheelie on his bicycle during a stunt show in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, on Sunday, October 31, 2021. (Photo by Pedro Ramses Mattey/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A Hindu holy man shouts religious slogans during a procession to mark 'Krishna Janmashtami' in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, August 19, 2022. Krishna Janmashtami marks the birth of Hindu god Krishna. (Photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP Photo)

A man drinks a Frucola as a policeman chases demonstrators during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, Chile on December 4, 2019. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A rainbow appears as people enjoy a warm afternoon on a tour boat at Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada on October 21, 2024. (Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)