Olympic torch to travel over 2.5 mln kilometers above Earth
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to take part in the torch relay of the 2014 Olympic Games, a source at Baikonur space center told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Before parting with the Olympic torch, the crew of ISS is also expected to have a short relay. All nine crewmembers who will be aboard ISS during that time will take part in the relay from the place of storage to the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft - Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Oleg Kotov, Sergei Ryazansky and Mikhail Tyurin, NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg, Michael Hopkins and Richard Mastracchio, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and Japanese - Koichi Wakata," the source said.
He also said that together with the station, the torch will cover over 2.5 million kilometers.
"It is planned to send the Olympic torch on its space mission aboard the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft on November 7," he said. "After the ship docks with the ISS, the torch will be taken to open space on November 9, and on November 11 it will return to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-9M spacecraft," he said.
The Olympic torch relay began on October 6 in Moscow's Red Square. The torch will be carried by 14,000 torch-bearers and 30,000 volunteers.
Most of the relay will be by foot but the torch will also be transported by car, train, plane and the Russian troika. It will be taken to Mount Elbrus, the bottom of Lake Baikal, and space.
The relay will last for 123 days and end on February 7 in Sochi at Fisht Olympic stadium where the opening ceremony of the 22nd Winter Olympic Games will take place.
