Ales Svoboda has spent years preparing for a challenge very few people will ever face: piloting a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). 

Svoboda has flown fighter jets in the Czech Air Force and has completed basic astronaut training at the European Space Agency.

He has gone through years of sacrifice, discipline and preparation to get where he is now and in preparation for a mission that, if approved, could make him the first Czech citizen on the ISS. 

DW was given exclusive access to the German Aerospace Center in Munich, Germany, and spoke with Svoboda about his work and training, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at the making of Europe's next generation of astronauts.