A torch for the Sochi Winter Olympics has blasted blast off into space – as part of efforts to showcase next year’s games in Russia.
A Soyuz rocket delivered the torch to the International Space Station.
Two Russian cosmonauts took the unlit torch on a historic first spacewalk.
The Olympic torch has been carried into space twice before – in 1996 and 2000 – but it has never left a spaceship.
The Sochi torch will be used to light the Olympic cauldron in February next year.
The BBC says the run-up to the games has been marred by controversy over a new Russian law that restricts the spread of information about homosexuality, as well as allegations by rights groups that authorities have rounded up migrant workers who helped build the Games venues in Sochi.
Meanwhile, cruise ships Norwegian Jade, Grand Holiday, Louis Olympia and Thomson Spirit plus three ferries will be used as floating hotels during the Winter Olympics.
Together they will offer floating accommodation in the Black Sea port of Sochi for up to 1,000 passengers.
