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)

Manchester City's Ellen White reacts after a missed chance during the Women's UEFA Champions League match at the Academy Stadium in Manchester, United Kingdom on December 16, 2020. (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)

A “nail house”, the last building in the area, sits in the middle of a road under construction in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region April 10, 2015. According to local media, the owner of the house didn't reach an agreement with the local authority about compensation of the demolition. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A woman in the Sabean Mandaean community takes part in a ritual during the Prosperity Day celebration in the Tigris River in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, November 1, 2022. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

This photo taken on October 20, 2018 shows tourists posing for a photo on a middle of a railway track passing through an old residential district in central Hanoi. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

A Naga sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man, performs a ritual inside his tent during Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher festival, at Trimbakeshwar, India, Friday, August 28, 2015. Hindus believe taking a dip in the waters of a holy river during the festival will cleanse them of their sins. The festival is held four times every 12 years. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

Thousands of species of amphibians are endangered and hundreds have already disappeared, but in recent years, a team of scientists and conservationists have re-discovered some of these “lost” species and uncovered previously unknown varieties. Here: Miniature glass frog. (Photo by Robin Moore)