In this paper we study fractional powers of the Bessel differential operator. The fractional powers are defined explicitly in the integral form without use of integral transforms in its definitions. Some general properties of the fractional powers of the Bessel differential operator are proved and some are listed. Among them are different variations of definitions, relations with the Mellin and Hankel transforms, group property, generalized Taylor formula with Bessel operators, evaluation of resolvent integral operator in terms of the Wright or generalized Mittag-LeFFer functions. At the end, some topics are indicated for further study and possible generalizations. Also the aim of the paper is to attract attention and give references to not widely known results on fractional powers of the Bessel differential operator.