Astronaut candidates' survival training 2010

At the end of June 2010, ESA’s six astronaut candidates, Samantha Cristoforetti, Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano, Timothy Peake and Thomas Pesquet, spent two weeks in tough survival training learning and using the skills needed to stay alive in a harsh environment with very little equipment.

This photo gallery shows how they were thrown out of a helicopter, left to drift at sea and were abandoned under the hot Mediterranean sun – but luckily they were well-trained and under supervision.