Olympic torch has lift off

Nasa Live TV showed the rocket, emblazoned with the pale blue Sochi 2014 logo, launching from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The torch will make its way to the International Space Station before being taken into space itself, making it the Olympic symbol’s first spacewalk. Russia’s Mikhail Tyurin, Nasa’s Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata of Japan beamed at the crowd as they carried the lit torch aboard the Soyuz rocket.

For safety reasons, the torch will not burn when it is onboard the space outpost. Lighting it would consume precious oxygen and pose a threat to the crew. The crew will carry the unlit torch around the station’s numerous modules before taking it out on a spacewalk.