Iran's Hanieh Rajabi performs during the women's Daoshu competition at the 13th Wushu World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, November 16, 2015. (Photo by Tatan Syuflana/AP 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)

Italian actress Sophia Loren and US actor Marlon Brando at a cinema in Rome on November 11, 1954, where Brando received the Francesco Pasinetti Prize for his performance in the film “On The Waterfront”. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

A striking funeral worker takes a break near a casket placed at a parking lot as they protest over changes to a host of procedures and regulations, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak outside the department of home affairs in Soweto, South Africa, September 16, 2020. (Photo by Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

American actress Jenna Ortega snaps a seductive selfie in the second decade of September 2022. (Photo by jennaortega/Instagram)

English actress Lily James attends the “What's Love Got To Do With It?” UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on February 13, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Zak Hussein/Splash News and Pictures)

English actress Danielle Harold shot exclusively for the Sun on Sunday, May 7, 2023 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Olivia West/News Group Newspapers Ltd via The Sun)

The Borealis in the second decade of December 2023 gets ready to leave Liverpool for the Classic Christmas Markets cruise. It will call at Zeebrugge, Amsterdam and Hamburg to take in some of Europe’s best festive markets. (Photo by Bav Media)