Russian astronauts to take Olympic torch to ISS

Zee Media Bureau

Moscow: A team of Russian astronauts will take the unlit Olympic torch for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the relay route. The torch, which will be carried outside the ISS for a spacewalk, will not be lit at any point as carrying naked flames are strictly prohibited in the space station. “It will be the same as the torch at the Olympics,” the deputy head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, Vitaly Davydov, was quoted as saying by a news agency. The torch relay, which will start on October 7, 2013 from Moscow, is expected to be taken to the ISS in November. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky are expected to perform the spacewalk before its likely return to Earth on November 12, 2013. The torch will be carried by a record-breaking 14,000 different torchbearers through 83 Russian cities before arriving at Sochi on the day of the opening ceremony on February 7, 2014.