CAVES 2016—Exploring a Cave: View 8 | European Space Agency"I found myself in the very depths of the earth from which I launched into planetary space." -Jules Verne
Six astronauts are traveling 800 m underground into the rocky caves of Sardinia, Italy. This year’s participants are ESA astronaut Pedro Duque, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Richard Arnold, Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide, Chinese astronaut Ye Guangfu and cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov.
Caves offer a dark and alien underground environment with many analogies to space. Deep underground, our senses are deprived of many sounds and natural light. The procedure for moving along a cave wall resembles spacewalking and cave explorers need to stay alert, take critical decisions both as an individual and as a team, just as in space.
CAVES stands for Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills. The two-week course prepares astronauts to work safely and effectively in multicultural teams in an environment where safety is critical—in caves.
Held each year, CAVES teaches astronauts to explore the underground system of the Sa Grutta caves in Sardinia, Italy, as a team, delving deep underground to perform scientific experiments as well as chart and document their activities.
The course is run by the European Astronaut Center to simulate spaceflight. Seasoned International Space Station astronauts as well as rookies participate in the course and share experiences while learning how to improve leadership, teamwork, decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Credit: ESA-V.Crobu
Image Date: June 25, 2016
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