Israeli soldiers pray at dawn as the conflict between Palestine and Gaza enters its seventh day on November 20, 2012 on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. Hamas militants and Israel are continuing talks aimed at a ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza reaches more than 100 and also three Israelis killed by rockets fired by Palestinian militants. (Photo by Christopher Furlong)

A swimmer stops short of a red algae bloom at Sydney's Clovelly Beach on November 27, 2012, which closed some beaches for swimming including Bondi Beach for a period of time. While the red algae, known as Noctiluca scintillans or sea sparkle, has no toxic effects, people are still advised to avoid swimming in areas with discoloured water because the algae, which can be high in ammonia, can cause skin irritation. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

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 fishing boat that was ran aground by the sea while moored in the port of Coquimbo, some 445 km north of Santiago, during the eve's earthquake on September 17, 2015. A million people were evacuated in Chile after an 8.3-magnitude quake struck offshore in the Pacific, killing at least 10 people and triggering tsunami waves along its northern coast. (Photo by Martin Bernetti/AFP Photo)

A woman plays around as she walks across a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern China's Hunan province Thursday, September 24, 2015. The bridge, 300 meters (984 feet) long and 180 meters (590 feet), opened to visitors on Thursday for the first time since its conversion from a regular suspension bridge was completed. (Photo by Chinatopix Via AP Photo)

The supermoon rises behind Glastonbury Tor on September 27, 2015 in Glastonbury, England. Tonight's supermoon, so called because it is the closet full moon to the Earth this year, is particularly rare as it coincides with a lunar eclipse, a combination that has not happened since 1982 and won't happen again until 2033. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

A Dutch Military Policeman, left inside, guards part of the reconstructed cockpit, right, and forward section of the fuselage after the Dutch Safety Board presented it's final report into what caused Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to break up high over Eastern Ukraine last year, killing all 298 people on board, during a press conference in Gilze-Rijen, central Netherlands, Tuesday, October 13, 2015. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

A dancer lets a Russian tourist practice the traditional tannoura dance at a cafe in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 10, 2015. The fallout from the crash of a Russian Metrojet passenger plane in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula could slash tourism income from Sharm al-Sheikh by half, the head of the region's travel agents' association said on Tuesday. Several airlines have suspended flights to the Red Sea resort since the Oct. 31 crash, which investigators and Western governments believe was likely to have been caused by a bomb. Thousands of Russian and British tourists have been flown home. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)