Outer space

Turkey has successfully passed the first test of its indigenous engine to be used in a rocket that will be sent to the Moon in 2023.

"We, as a country, have a mission to the Moon, and I think we will succeed the first leg of our long mission in 2023," said Mustafa Varank, the minister of industry and technology, on April 11.

In the battle between the best photos taken by astronauts, the showdown came down to a unique Turkish lake versus stars in the heavens.

The photos, taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), are in the final of a special NASA contest.

It is believed to have been a part of a Russian spacecraft

A NASA contest for the next five weeks is looking for the best photographs of the Earth taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Tournament Earth competition was kicked off by the agency's Earth Observatory and features images from more than 20 years of snapshots by spacewalkers.

Russia and China unveiled plans on March 9 for a joint lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to recapture the glory of its space pioneering days of Soviet times, and Beijing gears up its own extraterrestrial ambitions.

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover went on its first drive across the planet's surface after landing there in mid-February, the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced in a statement.

The Perseverance rover touched down the Red Planet's surface in the area of Jezero Crater on February 18. All the operations were conducted in the automatic mode.

The US space agency's Perseverance rover has wiggled its wheels and undertaken its first Martian drive.

It didn't move far - just 6.5m in total.

But Nasa  scientist believe it was a significant moment.

While the rover is still doing a lot of engineering checkouts, the minute 'the rubber' begins to move it should be considered as "explorer" on the surface of Mars.

The launch at Boca Chica, Texas, was streamed live by SpaceX

A Turkish engineer, who worked at American space transportation company SpaceX's first rocket project Falcon-1, accused the company owner, billionaire tycoon Elon Musk of forcing them to work as "slaves."

"We were left alone on an island. He [Elon Musk] made us work like slaves," Bülent Altan said in a book called "Lift-off," describing his early days in the company.

The spacecraft facilities could also function as hubs to facilitate rocket travel to different places on Earth