Impala pictured in the Kruger National Park on December 7, 2007 in Mpumalanga, South Africa. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

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)

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

German model Alena Gerber poses wearing a full chocolate dress during the presentation of chocolate dresses designed by German bakery group Lambertz on January 21, 2010 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexandra Beier/Getty Images)

A man performs a split as he practices Kung Fu at Beihai Park in Beijing, China August 20, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

A young anoa, also known as midget buffalo, named Tycoon runs around at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, on November 9, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/EPA)

A man walks beside a “Wrinkles Of The City” creation near the Berlin cathedral in Berlin April 19, 2013. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

A gibbon drinks from a soft drink bottle, given by a tourist, at a zoo in Kunming, Yunnan province, June 18, 2015. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)