In February, the U. S. stated that its Mars explorer, Perseverance, landed successfully on the Red Planet. Perseverance is on a task to collect Martian soil and rocks as part of a search for signs of ancient life.
Perseverance landed in an area of Mars called Jezero Crater. Scientists believe the area has a large ancient lakebed. NASA considers the area a promising place to find possible signs of microbial life.
Perseverance carried to Mars a small experimental helicopter (直升机) named Ingenuity. In April, NASA said Ingenuity had successfully completed a takeoff and landing on the planet. It said the flight was historic; it marked the first time any flying machines had performed a powered, controlled flight on another planet.
In July, British billionaire Richard Branson entered into space on a rocket plane built by Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company he created. Branson joined two pilots and three other task experts on the flight. Virgin Galactic aims to fly private citizens to the edge of space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and observe Earth.
A little over a week later, American billionaire Jeff Bezos flew to the edge of space on a rocket built by his company, Blue Origin. Three other people took the quick trip with him: Bezo's brother, a Dutch teenager and an 82-year-old pilot.
The flights by Branson and Bezos officially started a new industry that promises any citizen the chance to visit space. Such trips will be costly, however. Virgin Galactic's price for a single flight is $250,000. Blue Origin has not publicly announced its price. Both businesses have built operating bases, called "spaceports", in the countryside areas of the U. S.
And earlier this month, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa arrived for a 12-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS). The businessman arrived along with an assistant aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The price of that trip has not been made public, but some reports guess it costs up to $50 million.
