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)

“A small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on Earth to no more than four hours away”. – Chris Wickham via Reuters. Photo: Artist's impression of Skylon. (Photo by Reaction Engines Ltd)

Performers dressed as Ded Moroz, the equivalent of Santa Claus, and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) take on shoe covers as they visit the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre of Pediatric Surgery in Minsk, Belarus, December 28, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A horse- drawn carriage rides along the race course through the Thuringian Forest in Oberhof, Germany, 05 January 2017. Winter found its way to Saxony, Saxony- Anhalt, and Thuringia. In some regions it can get as low as negative 20 degrees overnight. (Photo by Martin Schutt/Zentralbild/DPA)

Entomologist Anna Platoni wears a hat made of tropical flowers made by florist Emma Reynolds with a Blue Morpho butterfly on her cheek to mark the opening of Butterflies in the Glasshouse at RHS Garden Wisley, south of London, on Janurary 15, 2016. (Photo by Luke MacGregor/PA Wire/RHS)

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)

From rural life in India to a chick growing inside its embryo and a sea turtle eating a purple jellyfish, the Society of Biology has released their stunning photography competition shortlist. Here: “Spectral Tarsier”. Tangkoko, Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia: Spectral tarsier by Wolfgang Weinhardt. (Photo and caption by Wolfgang Weinhardt/UK Society of Biology Photography Award 2014)

Cattle keepers from the Dinka tribe perform a traditional dance after a prayer session for peace and good health along the route to Rajaf Payam outside the capital Juba October 18, 2014. (Photo by Jok Solomon/Reuters)