The Crew of the New International Space Station Expedition Wished the Russian National Olympic Team Good Luck

The new International Space Station Expedition crew members, who will take the Olympic torch to outer space, wished Russian athletes every success and many victories at the XXII Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi.

The cosmonauts of Roscosmos Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky, as well as NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, will go to the ISS on September 26. Kotov and Ryazansky will carry the Olympic torch to outer space on November 9.

At the preflight  press conference at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Sergey Ryazansky said: “We wish you good luck! We hope you win many medals and worthily represent our country at the Olympic Games”.

According to Kotov, the idea of taking the torch into space was not the crews idea. Roscosmos and the Russian Olympic Committee suggested it. He also mentioned: “We will try to make it (the Olympic torch spacewalk) spectacular and entertaining. This event will be broadcast live”.

Ryazansky said that he and Kotov have already practiced taking the torch outside the spacecraft during training at the weightless environment training facility in the Cosmonaut Training Centre. As far as the procedure is concerned, Ryazansky specified that he will be the first to step outside the ISS with the photography and the video cameras. After that Kotov will step outside the station with the torch.

Kotov also said that the Cosmonauts will support the Russian team. The broadcast of their favorite sports competitions will be ARRANGED for them.