Images: Russia sends Olympic torch on a journey to space

  [caption id=“attachment_1216379” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft decorated with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games logo and a blue-and-white snowflake pattern, blasts off from the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome on 7 November, 2013. REUTERS[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1216381” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  International Space Station (ISS) crew members are seen in the capsule of the Soyuz rocket November 7, 2013 in this still image taken from NASA TV footage. A three-man crew successfully blasted off into space with the Olympic torch on Thursday, ready to take it on its first space walk in what they said would be a “spectacular” showcase for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. REUTERS[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1216383” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft, emblazoned with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games logo and a blue-and-white snowflake pattern, blasts off with the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio from the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome. REUTERS[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1216387” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  International Space Station (ISS) crew members, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata (L), Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin (C) and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, wave after donning space suits shortly before before the blast off to ISS. They will have the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games torch with them when they blast off for the ISS from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which Moscow rents from Kazakhstan. REUTERS[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1216389” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Russia’s Roscosmos space agency chief Oleg Ostapenko (front R) greets crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) in front of a Roscosmos official carrying the torch of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games shortly before the crew members board the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft. REUTERS[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1216391” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata (L), of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin (C), of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA smile as they hold an Olympic torch that will be flown with them to the International Space Station, during a press conference held at the Cosmonaut hotel in Baikonur on 6 November, 2013. The launch of the Soyuz rocket will send Tyurin, Mastracchio and Wakata on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. REUTERS[/caption]