A Russian three-man crew has taken the Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games on board the International Space Station.

The Russian rocket docked with the International Space Station on Thursday. The torch will not burn on board the space station because it would consume precious oxygen and pose a threat to the crew. But it WILL instead be taken out of the capsule for a space walk on Saturday by two Russian cosmonauts. This will be the first time an Olympic torch will have been taken into open space.

The torch will then be returned to Earth. It's due to touch down in Kazakhstan on Monday. It will then continue its relay, eventually arriving in the host city, Sochi, to light the Olympic flame on February 7th. The four-month torch relay started in Moscow on October 7th... and I'll covers the longest distance in the history of the Olympics.