The Olympic torch has arrived at the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.
The capsule -- carrying the torch and a three-man crew -- successfully docked with the orbiting space station after being launched on November 7 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
The torch will be taken on a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on November 9 -- the first time an Olympic torch is to be carried into open space.
For safety reasons, the torch won't be lit during the flight or during its time in the space station.
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 November 11 to continue a 65,000-kilometer relay, ending with the start of the Winter Olympics in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi on February 7.
The capsule -- carrying the torch and a three-man crew -- successfully docked with the orbiting space station after being launched on November 7 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
The torch will be taken on a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on November 9 -- the first time an Olympic torch is to be carried into open space.
For safety reasons, the torch won't be lit during the flight or during its time in the space station.
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 November 11 to continue a 65,000-kilometer relay, ending with the start of the Winter Olympics in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi on February 7.
