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 dogs sent into outer space by the Soviet Union after their safe return to earth. They spent 22 days in orbit. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images). 22nd March 1966

Judy, a black collie whose owner was killed by a train when trying to retrieve her after she slipped her lead. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images). 17th December 1976

Most of people who have visited Bali have seen the cockfighting popular among the locals. A little-known but no less ardent hobby among Bali’s farming community is cricket fighting, or mejangkrikang. The insects face off inside bamboo tubes known as bumbung, and bets are placed on the bouts, which typically last two minutes. Here: a cricket breeder shows his two adult fighter crickets on a bamboo tubes called Bumbung. (Photo by A. A. Gde Agung/JG Photo)

Lu Wei-ming (L), priest of the Wei-ming temple, and a worshipper burn a Taoist paper amulet during a prayer ritual at the temple in New Taipei city January 8, 2015. The shrine, down a narrow alleyway in a bustling district of the city, is dedicated to a deity who has watched over homosexuals for four centuries. Priest Lu founded the temple in 2006, at a time gays were excluded from most religious ceremonies. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

A South Sudanese model applies make-up during the Festival of Fashion and Arts for Peace in Juba August 9, 2014. (Photo by Andreea Campeanu/Reuters)

NASA's DHC-3 Otter plane flies in Operation IceBridge-Alaska surveys of mountain glaciers in Alaska in this image released on September 18, 2014. Over the past few decades, average global temperatures have been on the rise, and this warming is happening two to three times faster in the Arctic. (Photo by Chris Larsen/Reuters/NASA/University of Alaska-Fairbanks)

A adorable bear cub cant get enough of playing buckaroo – as it hangs onto its mum splashing about in a river. His mum was attempting to catch a fish supper for the pair as the plucky cub continued to jump on her back. And as she was concentrating on her meal the young bear became a distraction. So she sprung into life with him on her back before he was tossed into the water much to his delight. (Photo by Lisa Sidorsky/Caters News)