NASA astronaut Jessica Meir’s video log of the first day of the extended exploration phase of ESA’s underground training course CAVES.

Six astronauts from China, Japan, USA, Spain and Russia will spend six nights in caves of Sardinia, Italy, to explore the depths and train for life in outer space.

Jessica is the team’s biologist and is tasked with searching for alien underground life. She discusses the scientific tasks of the day running experiments with anthropods.

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.

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