ESA sstronaut Paolo Nespoli from Italy is about to embark upon a long duration mission to the International Space Station. Scheduled as part of a barter agreement between NASA and the Italian Space Agency ASI, it will be his third flight to the Space Station; his first flight was in 2007, during the Station’s construction phase, followed by a six-month mission launched in December 2010.

Paolo is currently training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, in preparation for the many scientific experiments he’ll be carrying out in orbit.