TV AND WEB RESTRICTIONS~**NONE*~<br/> <br />ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />A three-man crew successfully began the first step to bringing the Olympic torch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (November 7).<br/> <br />The Soyuz rocket carrying crew members Mikhail Tyurin, Koichi Wakata, Rick Mastracchio and the Olympic torch safely docked to the ISS at 1027 GMT.<br/> <br />The Soyuz hatch opened and the three men on board entered the International Space Station with the torch.<br/> <br />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.<br/> <br />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.
