Olympic torch blasts into space before Games
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A rocket carrying the Olympic torch successfully blasted off Thursday from Earth on its way to the International Space Station. Starting a spectacular leg of the relay counting down to the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, NASA Live TV showed the rocket emblazoned with the Sochi logo launching from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The torch will not burn on board the space outpost because lighting it would consume precious oxygen and pose a threat to the crew. The crew will carry the unlit torch around the station's numerous modules before taking it out on a spacewalk. (AP)
