Every rock tells a story of past volcanic eruptions, meteoric impacts, and giant earthquakes. What we learn on Earth can also be applied to other planets. It involves what's called terrestrial analogs.

"I personally work on the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars Rovers," said physical scientist Ryan Anderson, who is with the U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center. "I'm involved with the laser instruments that are on top of their heads. They zap rocks with the laser and tell us what they're made of."

Analogs are places on Earth with geological, biological, or environmental conditions similar to those found on other planets. Anderson says there are many terrestrial analogs in northern Arizona, including Sunset Crater.

"It's useful to have these analogs because we can't send people to everywhere we want to study in the solar system," Anderson said. "You know, we've been to the moon, but just a couple of places. It's really hard to get there and the moon is the closest thing."

The USGS Astrogeology Science Center launched a program this year that will put extra attention toward studying the similarities and differences between analogs and sites on other planets.

USGS Geologist Amber Gullikson, an expert in analogs, says they were first used as training grounds for the Apollo missions in the 1960s. Now, they're being used again so future astronauts can map out best practices and make space missions as efficient as possible.

"To understand, you know, the length of a traverse, how long it takes to get there, to test out the various instruments that you're going to use in order to collect samples," Gullikson said. "Also, how long it will take to collect those samples."

"We're really in the business of maximizing the science return from NASA's missions," Anderson said. "And now we're coming full circle because NASA's planning to go back to the moon again, and we're right there with them, helping them train and practice and get ready to go again."

"We are not going to launch today."

Due to the weather conditions, the launch is scrubbing. Our next opportunity will be Saturday, May 30 at 3:22pm ET. Live

#LaunchAmerica




coverage will begin at 11am ET.

pic.twitter.com/c7R1AmLLYh

— NASA (@NASA)

May 27, 2020

On Saturday, for the first time in nine years, American astronauts will lift off from their home soil en route to space — and will do so aboard a privately-funded spacecraft.

Should weather in Cape Canaveral, Florida cooperate,




astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will blast off in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft en route to the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission, SpaceX Demo-2, is the first test of SpaceX carrying humans into space. After launch, the astronauts will confirm the spacecraft is functioning properly during the 24-hour flight before the craft docks at the ISS.

The SpaceX craft will also carry the astronauts home, but at this point it's unclear when that will happen. NASA says it will determine how long the astronauts will stay at the ISS after they arrive. The maximum time they'll spend at the space station is between two to three months.

Watch the launch site in the player below.

The launch will mark the first time that a rocket developed by a private company will carry American astronauts into space — a milestone in the U.S.' newly-imagined space program.

In 2011, NASA ended its space shuttle program — and with it, its ability to send astronauts into space. The program had

simply become too expensive




for the federal government to justify paying for it. The U.S. still sent astronauts into space, but only on rockets launched in other countries, like Russia.

While NASA sought a cost-effective way to get astronauts into space, private space transportation companies like SapceX and Blue Origin began testing methods to lower the cost of space travel — including reusable rockets.

NASA and SpaceX have been launching rockets in partnership for several years, but Wednesday will mark the first time there will be humans aboard.

NASA believes that the public-private partnership will allow the agency to focus its efforts on deep space exploration. The agency is already planning on sending astronauts back to the moon, with the

hopes of a return by 2024.




NASA has also been exploring the possibility of

sending humans to Mars




— which would mark the first time in history that humans have visited a new planet.

The two astronauts involved in the mission are both NASA veterans who have flown in space before.

Behnken was selected as an astronaut in 2000, and flew two space shuttle missions — one in 2008, and another in 2010. He has more than 708 hours in space, including 37 hours on spacewalks.

Hurley was also selected as an astronaut in 2000. He piloted two space flights: one in 2009, the other in 2011.

“After five years of every day working on this program, I think Bob and I are only two of many people ready to get this thing airborne,” Hurley said.

It's the space taco party of your dreams.

The International Space Station hosted a taco bash for astronauts on Friday as they celebrated the harvest of the first chile peppers grown in space. The crew finally had a chance to taste test the peppers after initially kicking off the plant experiment on the space station in July.

Plant Habitat-04 is one of the most complex plant experiments on the orbiting laboratory to date because peppers take much longer to grow than the previous experiments, which included various types of lettuce, flowering zinnias and even radishes.

After growing for four months, the peppers were harvested on Friday by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Next, they were sanitized before the crew settled in to taste some of the red and green chiles and take surveys about the flavor and texture.

Following the taste test, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur made her "best space tacos yet: fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes & artichokes, and HATCH CHILE!" the astronaut shared on Twitter.

Some of the peppers will be sent back to Earth for analysis, while the chile pepper plants continue to grow on the space station. The SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts, due to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this month, will conduct a second harvest once they arrive.

The rare fresh produce means more than just some dietary variety and excitement for the astronauts. The success of this experiment also has multiple scientific implications for the future of astronaut nutrition and long-duration space missions.

And these mild peppers could turn spicier or milder depending on how much water they receive — and how living in the absence of gravity, which is stressful for plants, impacts them.

Growing plants in space

Humans have been living and working on the space station for 20 years. The bulk of their meals are prepackaged, though sometimes astronauts receive fresh treats from resupply missions. Those care packages, however, will be much more limited on longer deep space missions, including traveling to the moon or Mars.

The longer that packaged food is stored, the more it loses nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin K.

So far, astronauts have successfully grown 10 different crops on the space station since 2015 and had the chance to sample each one.

Peppers provide a great source of vitamin C, as well as other key nutrients, and these chile peppers tested well on Earth in environments simulating what the plants might experience on the space station.

Pepper plants self-pollinate, so they are easy to grow, and they are a pick-and-eat crop that doesn't have to be cooked. They also contain low microbial levels, so they are safe to eat raw.

It took two years for researchers to settle on the Hatch chile pepper for their space experiment. The name belongs to several varieties grown in Hatch, New Mexico, and the Hatch Valley in southern New Mexico, but this specific plant is a hybrid developed by New Mexico State University, combining the Hatch Sandia pepper and the traditional Española pepper of northern New Mexico.

But the space peppers can't officially be Hatch chile peppers because they weren't grown in Hatch Valley.

Forty-eight seeds launched in a carrier on a resupply mission to the space station in June. The carrier was placed inside the lab's Advanced Plant Habitat, which is about the size of a microwave. The habitat can be monitored and controlled from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including watering, lighting and turning on fans to promote pollen transfer.

On Earth, these chiles grow to about 3 inches long, but their environment could have an impact on how the peppers develop in space.

Spicing things up

A side effect of life in zero gravity is that astronauts often lose some of their taste and smell, so spicy or well-seasoned foods are a favorite.

Adding fresh greens or peppers to the menu allows astronauts to liven up their regular meals. But growing and tending to the plants can also produce other benefits.

Astronauts have described the joy they get from seeing — as well as smelling and caring for — leafy green plants on the space station that remind them of Earth. The astronauts also helped hand-pollinate flowers on some of the plants.

"Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for physical and psychological health," said Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for the experiment, in a statement. "We are discovering that growing plants and vegetables with colors and smells helps to improve astronauts' well-being."

The results of this experiment could help researchers learn how fruit development occurs in the absence of gravity and mitigate challenges for future growth experiments.

"The combination of microgravity, light quality, temperature, and rootzone moisture will all affect flavor, so it will be interesting to find out how the fruit will grow, ripen, and taste," said LaShelle Spencer, project science team lead, in a statement. "This is important because the food astronauts eat needs to be as good as the rest of their equipment. To successfully send people to Mars and bring them back to Earth, we will not only require the most nutritious foods, but the best tasting ones as well."

File video above: Celebrities uplift Vanessa Bryant after eulogizing her late husband and daughter

This week will come with reflections of tragedies and the next phase of former President Donald Trump's second impeachment case.

This week will have been one year after a deadly helicopter crash claimed nine lives and 35 years after the space shuttle Challenger explosion claimed seven lives.

Here's what to know.

Impeachment case moves forward

The House of Representatives is moving forward on the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, less than a week after he left office.

It involves a single charge of incitement of insurrection for the deadly attack on the Capitol that unfolded on Jan. 6.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send the article of impeachment late Monday, with senators sworn in as jurors Tuesday.

In December 2019, Trump was impeached by the House on two articles: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. House Democrats claimed the president abused power like no other leader in U.S. history when he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, ahead of the 2020 election. The Senate acquitted him on both articles in February.

Opening arguments for the second trial, of which no president has ever faced previously, will move to February.

1 year passes since Kobe helicopter crash

Tuesday marks one year since a tragic helicopter crash killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant along with his daughter Gianna and her basketball teammate and six other people.

In addition to Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, the crash claimed the lives of Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and the helicopter's pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50.

Bryant was posthumously selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in early 2020, but an enshrinement ceremony for that class is slated for May 13-15.

Remembering the Challenger tragedy

Thursday will mark 35 years after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, claiming the lives of seven people: Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Dick Scobee and Michael Smith.

This year, NASA's annual Day of Remembrance ceremony will be livestreamed on Facebook at 11 a.m. ET due to social distancing precautions, the Kennedy Space Center said.

The explosion happened 73 seconds after liftoff.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed.