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)

Indian tourists walks during heavy snowfall by Dal Lake in Srinagar on January 6, 2017. The sub-zero temperatures has frozen many water bodies in Kashmir and even drinking water taps have frozen at some places. (Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP Photo)

A dancer performs as visitors take pictures at an auto show in Tianjin, China April 28, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Visitors hold ice blocks to cool themselves in hot weather at a water park on June 23, 2016 in Chongqing, China. Citizens and visitors escaped high temperature at a water park in Yangren Jie (also known as Foreigner Street), Nan'an District of south China's Chongqing. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A dog groomer prepares a model dog during the 2nd Annual Shenzhen International Pet Exhibition, July 14, 2016, in Shenzhen, China. The pet exhibition runs from July 14 - 17, 2016 at the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center. (Photo by VCG/Getty Images)

Tourists play in front of a 3D painting on the wall of a house in Luoyuan village, Jinhua, Zhejiang province, August 26, 2015. The village hired a team to put on 3D paintings all over the valley as a method to attract tourists and improve the income of local villagers, according to local media. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A petitioner with her grievances written on her clothes walks along a street in Beijing Tuesday, December 22, 2015. After months behind bars, Pu Zhiqiang, one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, left a detention center Tuesday after receiving a suspended prison sentence in a case involving online comments critical of the ruling Communist Party. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Women wearing prosthetic legs participate in a public photo session at the Hasselblad and Profoto booth, during the CP+ camera and imaging equipment trade fair in Yokohama south of Tokyo, February 14, 2015. Japanese prosthetist Fumio Usui inspired the event after collaborating with photographer Takao Ochi in the book project “Amputee Venus” that portrays 11 Japanese women with artificial legs, local media reported. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)