Russia sends Sochi winter Olympic torch into space

Russia sent the Olympic torch into space with a three-man crew that blasted off to the International Space Station on Thursday, three months before the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.[caption id="attachment_1216195" align="alignleft" width="380"] The cosmonauts getting ready to board the space craft with the torch: Reuters[/caption]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 of Russia, Rick Mastracchio of the United States and Koichi Wakata of Japan are to arrive after a six-hour flight at the orbiting outpost 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.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.The torch is to be returned to Earth on Monday 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 7 February.Reuters