TV AND WEB RESTRICTIONS~**NONE*~
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
A three-man crew successfully began the first step to bringing the Olympic torch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (November 7).
The Soyuz rocket carrying crew members Mikhail Tyurin, Koichi Wakata, Rick Mastracchio and the Olympic torch safely docked to the ISS at 1027 GMT.
The Soyuz hatch opened and the three men on board entered the International Space Station with the torch.
They will get ready to take it on its first space walk in what they said would be a "spectacular" showcase for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
The space flight is part of what will be the longest torch relay before a Winter Olympics, which President Vladimir Putin hopes will boost Russia's image and show what it can achieve, more than two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed.
