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 woman sits next to a Gollum figure on the “Middle-earth Shuttle” subway train November 18, 2003 in New York City. The train's cars were decorated with Middle-earth creatures, vines, moss and stones to celebrate the November 18 DVD and VHS release of the Special Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A person stands in front of a 25.3-meter-long giant rabbit designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman at an old aircraft hangar as part of the Taoyuan Land Art Festival in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, September 3, 2014. The rabbit is named “Moon rabbit” for the coming Mid-Autumn Festival or the Moon Festival and will be displayed from September 4 to 14 at the Taoyuan military base. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

A public bus makes its way on a flooded road after heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai, India on August 4, 2019. India receives its monsoon rains from June to September. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP Photo)

A woman in costume of the Prosperity and Wealth God wears a protective face mask at a gold shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, February 3, 2020. It is a tradition for many Vietnamese to buy gold on the tenth day of the lunar new year – the day of Prosperity and Wealth God, for good luck. (Photo by Hau Dinh/AP Photo)

A Pakistani labourer carries bricks on his back at a construction site at a residential area in Islamabad on March 29, 2017. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

A monkey is led by its trainer Qi Defang during training for a circus in Suzhou, Anhui province, November 29, 2014. Suzhou is known as the hometown of circus troupes in China and has more than 300 circus troupes. (Photo by William Hong/Reuters)

Gentoo penguins watching Christmas films at the Sea Life London aquarium on November 30, 2020. The attraction has installed two TVs, showing festive films, outside the penguin enclosure to prepare them for the stimulation of guests returning on Wednesday after the UK’s lockdown is lifted. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)