NASA's Perseverance rover has successfully taken a second sample of Martian rock and carried out initial analysis of the haul, the US space agency said on Friday. The samples are "likely volcanic with hints of salts that may hold bubbles of ancient water," NASA tweeted on behalf of the six-wheeled rover, dpa reported.

The space travel company Blue Origin announced it had taken legal actions against NASA over a multi billion deal between the agency and SpaceX. Blue Origin which is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos challenged in court NASA's decision to award a $2.9bn lunar lander contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX, BBC reported.

The airplane maker Boeing announced it was forced to postpone, by at least several month, the debut of its Starliner space capsule as it needed to remove the top of the rocket for further repairs. Earlier in July the company stopped the launch of its much awaited CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station after discovering a glitch in its propulsion system valves, Reuters reported

For the first time, Bulgarian children and students talked live with the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday. The video link was provided by the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, in partnership with the US Embassy in Sofia, and along with over 30 organisations involved in educational initiatives in the field of science and technology. BTA broadcasted the conversation - titled Hello Space! Bulgaria/EU calling - via a live video conference with the International Space Station.

US billionaire Jeff Bezos announced he offered to cover costs amounting at some two billion dollars if NASA awards him a contract to build a space ship for a Moon mission. Blue Origin, which is the Bezos company related to building space craft has applied to construct a space ship that can land astronauts on the Moon and afterwards return them to Earth, Reuters reported.

On 26 July 2021, Bulgaria will establish an In-Flight Educational Downlink with the International Space Station. Students from the entire country and wider Europe will have the unique opportunity to ask questions directly to astronauts from NASA and ESA (their names are yet to be announced).

SpaceX safely returned four astronauts from the International Space Station on Sunday, making the first US crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot, AP announced. The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk’s company.

NASA’s experimental helicopter Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has taken its first drive on the Red Planet on 4 March, moving 6.5 metres in 33 minutes, the US space agency announced on Friday. "The rover's six-wheel drive responded superbly," NASA engineer Anais Zarifian said, cited by dpa.

Perseverance made it! After a nearly 7-month journey, NASA's mission to Mars finally landed in the Jezero Crater on the planet and took its first two pictures. It survived with flying colours the so-called Seven Minutes of Terror - the distance it takes the rover to get from the top of Mars's atmosphere to its surface, which is particularly difficult because the rover will slow from speeds of almost 12,500 miles per hour to zero.