A devotee smiles as she offers prayers during the Swasthani Brata Katha festival in Kathmandu, Nepal January 12, 2017. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/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)

American actress, producer and director Eva Longoria arrives for the screening of the film “Emilia Perez” at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 18, 2024. (Photo by Antonin Thuillier/AFP Photo)

Models promote a condom brand at the first Shenzhen s*x Culture Festival on September 21, 2007 in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province, China. The festival aims to increase awareness about reproductive health and popularise s*x education. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Flames from a burning barricade lit by pro-democracy protesters is reflected in the windows of a passing bus as passengers watch on during a protest gathering in front of Mong Kok police station on September 22, 2019 in Hong Kong, China. Pro-democracy protesters have continued demonstrations across Hong Kong, calling for the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam to immediately meet the rest of their demands, including an independent inquiry into police brutality, the retraction of the word “riot” to describe the rallies, and genuine universal suffrage, as the territory faces a leadership crisis. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Kamo Mphela, a South African dancer and singer performs Amapiano, a South African musical export that has crossed borders and cultural barriers, reaching as far as Japan, during a music concert in Pretoria, South Africa, July 22, 2022. (Photo by Shafiek Tassiem/Reuters)

A large Pacific sideband snail slowly crosses a rain wet road in rural Douglas County, Oregon near Elkton on Sunday, December 2, 2012. The moisture loving snail should be very content with the recent heavy rains in southwestern Oregon and northern California. (Photo by Robin Loznak)

A tourist lies down on the tomato and water soup that has formed on August 30, 2023 in Bunol, Spain. Spain's tomato throwing party in the streets of Bunol, Valencia brings together almost 20,000 people, with some 150,000 kilos of tomatoes thrown each year, this year with a backdrop of high food prices affected by Spain's historic drought. (Photo by Zowy Voeten/Getty Images)