Olympic torch to travel to space ahead of Sochi 2014 Winter Games

Sochi 2014 organisers have confirmed that the Olympic torch will travel to space ahead of the Winter Games.

As part of the relay, the torch will go to the International Space Station on the Soyuz TMA-11M in November, with cosmonauts Sergei Ryazansky and Oleg Kotov taking it on a spacewalk.

"Nobody has done this before," the Daily Mail quotes Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko as saying.

"The spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts with the Sochi 2014 Olympic torch will be an historic moment in the history of the Olympic torch relay.

"I want to thank the Federal Space Agency for its support which will enable us to take the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay to the final frontier."

The torch will not be lighted for safety reasons.