Soyuz carries Olympic torch to space

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11M space ship carrying new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

The rocket, carrying the Olympic torch, successfully blasted off Thursday from earth ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.

Read more: Rocket carrying Olympic torch docks with space station

From left: Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, members of the next mission to the International Space Station, pose with an Olympic torch after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 6, 2013.

Cameramen film as the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, a member of the next mission to the International Space Station, poses with an Olympic torch after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 6, 2013.

The crew will deliver the Olympic torch to space as part of the ongoing Olympic torch relay. The torch will be brought back along with the station's current crew.

From left, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station (ISS), pose with an Olympic torch prior to the launch of a Soyuz-FG rocket at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

From left, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, walk to a bus with the Olympic torch prior the launch of a Soyuz-FG rocket, Nov. 7, 2013.

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11M space ship carrying new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, a member of the next mission to the International Space Station, holds an Olympic torch after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 6, 2013.

Cameramen film as the Soyuz-FG rocket booster, blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11M space ship carrying new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

A police vehicle drives past cameramen preparing to film the launch of the Soyuz at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, member of the next mission to the International Space Station, holds an Olympic torch after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 6, 2013.

The Soyuzs space ship carrying new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

The Soyuz space ship flies over the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

From left, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, pose with an Olympic torch after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 6, 2013.

The Soyuz space ship blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

From left: Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Rick Mastracchio, members of the next mission to the International Space Station, pose with an Olympic torch after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 6, 2013.

The Soyuz space ship blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) flies above the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Nov. 7, 2013.