Soyuz lofts space station crew, Olympic torch

A fresh three-man crew rocketed into space late Wednesday bound for the International Space Station, and an Olympic torch went along for the ride as part of a high-flying relay aboard the orbiting complex.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, NASA flight engineer Rick Mastracchio and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata launched inside the Soyuz TMA-11M space capsule at 0414:15 GMT Thursday (11:14:15 p.m. EST Wednesday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where it was 10:14 a.m. Thursday.

Tyurin, Mastracchio and Wakata docked to the space station about six hours later, arriving for a 188-day mission and joining six other astronauts and cosmonauts for a few days of crew handover activities.

The Olympic torch, launched to celebrate the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, will head outside the space station Saturday for a spacewalk and land back on Earth on Sunday night, U.S. time, with three returning crew members on another Soyuz spacecraft.

These photos from NASA, Energia and Roscosmos show the Soyuz launch and preflight preparations.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the mission.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: Energia

Credit: Energia

Credit: Roscosmos

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: Energia

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Credit: Energia

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