In April 26, 2010 he was certified as a cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center NII FGBU detachment. In September 2013, he took part in the CAVES (Cooperative Adventure from Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills) mission[5] in the Sa Grutta caves on the island of Sardinia (Italy).[6] During the mission, five astronauts and cosmonauts (Michael Barratt, Jack Fisher, Jeremy Hansen, Paolo Nespoli and Satoshi Furukawa) from different space agencies worked in a multicultural and multi-ethnic team in extreme conditions underground.[7]