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)

Two sailors from HMS Fury enjoy a smoke with two women in bathing suits on a beach in Jersey, where their ship is on a visit. (Photo by William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 29th June 1935

Winner of the Sandow bodybuilding competition, Mr. Murray. (Photo by Reinhold Thiele/Thiele/Getty Images). Circa 1905

2016 Rio Olympics, Judo, Final, Women, 48 kg Bronze Medal Contests, Carioca Arena 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 6, 2016. Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ) of Kazakhstan and Dayaris Mestre Alvarez (CUB) of Cuba react. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Medical residents, who removed their clothes to protest against working conditions, take part on a protest during a strike in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, October 20, 2020. Regional authorities across Spain continue to tighten restrictions against a sharp resurgence of coronavirus infections that is bringing the country’s cumulative caseload close to one million infections, the highest tally in western Europe. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

A new type of tandem at Alexandra Palace, London. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). June 1936

Two women lighting cigarettes on a tennis court in Essex, England circa 1930's. (Photo by Keystone View/FPG/Getty Images)

King George V (1865–1936), king of Great Britain since 1910, with his queen-consort Queen Mary (1867–1953), at Collier Hospital on a visit to Dublin. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)