Astronauts search for life - underground    Posted by TG Daily
Staff  An international crew of six astronauts is poised to kick
off a six-day caving training session on the sunny Italian
island of Sardinia.   CAVES, an acronym for Cooperative
Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and
performance Skills, helps teach astronauts how to work safely
and solve problems as a multicultural team while exploring
uncharted areas.     As ESA astronaut trainer and CAVES course
designer Loredana Bessone notes, caves offer many similarities
to space travel. Indeed, working in isolation from the outside
world in confined spaces with minimal privacy as well as coping
with technical challenges and limited supplies are conditions
that astronauts have to live with in space - and underground.
"The experience is designed to be as realistic as possible. A
dedicated mission control will monitor the crew from a base
station at the entrance of the cave. Briefings are held twice a
day as they are on the International Spa