Astronaut Wang Yaping has become the first Chinese woman to walk in space, as part of a six-month mission to the country’s space station. Wang left the main module of the Tiangong station for more than six hours to install equipment and carry out tests alongside the station’s robotic arm. Tiangong, meaning “heavenly palace”, is a crucial part of China’s drive to become a leading space power, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.