Russian cosmonauts train for Olympic torch relay in space

Russian cosmonauts have conducted special training ahead of a spacewalk with the Olympic torch, a crew member of the Soyuz spaceship said Wednesday.

"During a spacewalk there is always a chance to lose something. So when one man hands a torch over to the other, he must secure it with ropes. We've trained all that wearing spacesuits in a hydro-lab," Xinhua quoted Mikhail Tyurin as saying in the Baikonur cosmodrome during a pre-flight press conference.

Tyurin said the process of torch relay in outer space would be videotaped.

The Soyuz TMA-11M spaceship will take off Thursday from the Baikonur, bringing an Olympic torch to the International Space Station.

The torch will be taken on a short spacewalk Saturday by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy before taken back to Earth later.

The spaceship and the carrier rocket are decorated in Sochi Winter Olympics theme.

The capsule carries the logo of the Games while the carrier rocket is painted with a patchwork design.

The 22nd Winter Olympic Games are slated for Feb 7-23, 2014 with 98 events to be contested.