The Olympic torch is set for its maiden spacewalk after the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) became an honourable partner of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay.
Under the deal, Roscosmos will take the torch to the International Space Station in November and out for a spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryazansky and Oleg Kotov. The torch will not actually be lit during the voyage.
“Nobody has done this before,” Sochi 2014 organising committee president Dmitry Chernyshenko said. “The spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts with the Sochi 2014 Olympic torch will be an historic moment in the history of the Olympic Torch Relay.”
The Torch Relay, which is taking place ahead of the start of next year’s winter Olympics, is being sponsored by Coca-Cola, Ingosstrakh and Russian Railways.