A timelapse video of an underground meal during ESA’s underground training course CAVES. Just like on the International Space Station the evening meal can be a rare moment for astronauts on a mission to be together and share the day’s experiences – throughout the day they often work on their own tasks.

CAVES – Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills – focuses on multicultural approaches to leadership, following orders, teamwork and decision-making. At the end of the course the astronauts will have a better understanding of how they function in a multicultural team and what they are skilled at, as well as areas for self-improvement.

This year’s participants are an even more international team than ever, including ESA’s Pedro Duque, NASA’s Jessica Meir and Richard Arnold, Japan’s astronaut Aki Hoshide, China’s Ye Guangfu and Russia’s Sergei Korsakov.

Follow the underground adventure on Twitter with via @ESA_CAVES, and on the CAVES blog.