Untitled Document
 When,
on November 7, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off to the International
Space Station (ISS), it was carrying precious cargo: the 2014 Olympic
torch. The torch, which is on a 64,373-km relay, spent four days in
orbit and returned to Earth on November 11. During its time in space,
the torch became the first in history to go out on a spacewalk.
 Two
Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, carried the
torch in space as they performed station maintenance on the ISS. “Our
goal here is to make [the torch] look spectacular,” said Kotov before
his launch. “We would like to showcase our Olympic torch in space,
so we will try to do it in a beautiful manner.” Russian Mikhail Tyurin,
one of the three crewmembers of the Soyuz, also said before the launch,
“It’s not a complicated task. Just take it out, take a few pictures,
and bring it back.”
 While this
is amongst the most exciting trips that the Olympic torch will take,
it’s not the only one. In October, the torch traveled to the North
Pole. Later this year, it will head to the bottom of Lake Balkal,
the world’s deepest lake, and to the peak of Mt. Elbrus, the highest
mountain in Europe, located in Western Russia.
By the time the torch is brought to the Sochi Olympics stadium on
February 7, 2014 for the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, it will
have traveled over 64,000 km and visited an impressive 2,900 cities
and towns. In fact, the 2014 Olympic Torch will become the “most extensively
traveled Olympics torch in history!” |
Staff
reporter Jessica Kim
(jessicakim@timescore.co.kr)
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