For European astronauts, this place in Germany is the next best thing to the moon Boston 25 News [Video]

COLOGNE, Germany — (AP) — Donning heavy spacesuits and visors to protect them from sunlight, astronauts Thomas Pesquet of France and Matthias Maurer of Germany, accompanied by their trusty canine robot, move slowly on what looks like the lunar surface.

But it’s not the moon.

It will be years before the European Space Agency can send one of its astronauts there. For now, they are practicing in a facility the agency opened in Germany on Wednesday where lunar conditions have been replicated.

The LUNA facility at the European Astronaut Center near Cologne has 900 tons of ground-up volcanic rock like that on the moon spread over a surface a bit bigger than a basketball court. The moon’s low-gravity environment will be simulated using movable ceiling-mounted trolleys that follow a suspended astronaut or rover’s movements.

In a preopening briefing, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst said the facility will offer “most aspects that we will encounter on the …