You can easily get the impression that these astronauts are going in the wrong direction.

Instead of going up, they are deliberately going down. However there are several serious reasons why these astronauts or rather these "Cavenauts" are exploring the world deep beneath our feet.

ESA's astronauts are studying the cave environment because it naturally provides many spacerelevant conditions.

An international crew of six astronauts will start training for a caving adventure designed to prepare them for spaceflight.

CAVES, an abbreviation of Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills, prepares astronauts to work safely and effectively and solve problems as a multicultural team while exploring uncharted areas using space procedures.

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