Olympic torch spacewalk

Olympic torch spacewalk, A Russian spacecraft carried the Olympic torch back to the Earth after the torch's first ever spacewalk.

The Soyuz-TMA-09M spacecraft, also carrying Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin, American Karen Nyberg and Italian Luca Parmitano, landed in Kazakhstan at around 8:50 a.m. local time (0250 GMT).

The mission control center has sent over 200 search and rescue experts, 12 helicopters and six emergency vehicles to the landing site.

All the three astronauts were "in a good mood" after a six-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS), said the mission control center.

The torch, which will light the main Olympic flame at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Games on Feb. 7, was lifted to space on Nov. 7 and was taken on a spacewalk two days later. It was unlit throughout the flight for safety reasons.

The Olympic torch has been sent into space twice before, for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics and Sydney Games in 2000, but has never been taken outside the spacecraft.

Flying the torch to the ISS is part of the 123-day relay, which covers Russia's 83 regions spanning 132 cities.

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