A priest sprinkles holy water on a believer during the Orthodox Easter service in the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine on May 2, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

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)

Guinness World Records declared Afshin Ghaderzadeh 20 years old as world’s shortest man with the height of 65.24 cm in Dubai on December 15, 2022. The Iranian citizen takes the title from previous record-holder Edward Hernandez, from Colombia, who stands at 72cm tall. (Photo by Pawan Singh/The National)

A honor guard soldier stands at attention during a memorial religious service for those killed in the 1989 anti-communist uprising in University Square, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, December 21, 2022. Participants and relatives of those killed marked the 33rd anniversary of the anti-communist uprising which started in Bucharest on Dec. 21, 1989 and left more than one thousand people dead and ended the rule of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

Revellers dressed in mock military garb take part in “Els Enfarinats” food-battle in the southeastern Spanish town of Ibi on December 28, 2022. (Photo by Jaime Reina/AFP Photo)

Mara Salvatrucha (MS) gang members show off their weapons in the Las Victorias district of San Salvador. In March 2012, the two largest gangs in El Salvador - the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and the Barrio 18 (M18) - agreed on a truce following secret negotiations between gang leaders in prison which were mediated by a bishop and a former rebel leader. It is unclear whether the decision was the idea of the gangs themselves or whether they were encouraged by the government. (Photo by Adam Hinton)

A baby rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) looks up as it plays with a tiger cub at a zoo in Hefei, Anhui province, August 2, 2012. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)