Russia Sends Olympic Torch Into Space Thursday Nov 07,2013

Russia sent the Olympic torch into space with a three-man crew that blasted off to the International Space Station on Thursday Nov 07,2013, three months before the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi

Decorated with a Sochi 2014 logo and a colourful snowflake design, the rocket lifted off on schedule at 10:14 local time (0414 GMT) from the Russian-leased facility in Kazakhstan

Russia's Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft carrying an international crew including Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio as well as the Olympic torch

The torch, unlit for safety reasons, was part of the payload of a Soyuz spacecraft that lifted off from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan.

Crew members  -

• Mikhail Tyurin(Russia)
• Rick Mastracchio(USA) and
• Koichi Wakata(Japan)

are to arrive after a six-hour flight at the orbiting outpost 250 miles (450 km) above Earth.

Two Russian cosmonauts are to take the torch out on a space walk on Saturday - the first time an Olympic torch is to be carried into open space.

Olympic torches were brought along on U.S. space shuttle voyages before the 1996 and 2000 Games

The torch is to be returned to Earth on Monday Nov 11,2013 to continue a 65,000-km (40,000-mile) relay culminating with the start of the Olympics in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Feb. 7,2014

Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky carried an unlit version of the feather-shaped symbol through the hatch of the International Space Station on Sat Nov 09,2013

Oleg Kotov proudly waves an unlit version of the Olympic torch outside the International Space Station

Oleg Kotov holds the feather-shaped symbol in his gloved hand while floating 260 miles above Earth

Sochi Olympic torch returns to Earth after spacewalk

 

A different crew - Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin, Nasa US astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian Luca Parmitano - bought it back to Earth, landing on the Kazakh steppes shortly before 08:50 (02:50 GMT) on Monday Nov 11,2013

The capsule descended to the ground under a parachute

Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin, the mission commander, was carried from the capsule to a reclining chair and covered with blanket against the cold.The torch was removed from a protective bag and given to Mr Yurchikhin, who waved it and smiled for the cameras.


Note
The Olympic torch has been carried into space twice before - in 1996 and 2000 - but it had never previously left a spaceship

The torch was unlit inside the ISS because of safety concerns and outside due to the lack of oxygen.