The feather-shaped red-and-grey symbol of peace and friendship was tethered safely to his bulky spacesuit to make sure it did not spin away in orbit 260 miles (420 kms) above the Earth. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/nov/Oleg-Kotov.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 368px;" /> In this image obtained from NASA TV, Cosmonaut Oleg Kotov holds the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games torch during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Saturday. Pic/AFP The moment The moment was captured on high-tech video and photo equipment operated by fellow cosmonaut Sergei Ryazansky - out on his very first spacewalk. &ldquo;Beautiful,&rdquo; Ryazansky exclaimed as Kotov proudly waved the torch in front of the camera while floating almost directly above Australia. &ldquo;It is hard to believe that this is happening,&rdquo; a state television commentator exclaimed. &ldquo;Something this beautiful has never happened before.&rdquo; The pair then spent about an hour taking turns holding the torch and posing for dramatic shots with the Earth serving as the backdrop. But their conversation mainly consisted of complicated space jargon and detailed exchanges with the Russian commander on board the ISS. Kotov had warned before the spacewalk that he did not intend to make any &rdquo;grand pronouncement&rdquo; similar to the one Neil Armstrong delivered when he took his first step on the Moon in 1969.u00a0Saturday&rsquo;s mission marked the very first time the Olympic symbol entered open space - a no-expense-spared triumph for Russia as it showed off its prowess in both science and sport. Russia has gone to unparallelled lengths to promote its first Olympic event since the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow were boycotted by a bloc of Western nations because of the Soviet Union&rsquo;s invasion at the time of Afghanistan.u00a0 Moscow has already sent the torch to the North Pole aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker. It will soon visit the bottom of Baikal - the world&rsquo;s deepest freshwater lake.u00a0All are extravagant reminders from President Vladimir Putin&rsquo;s government about the breadth of both Russia&rsquo;s ambitions and its natural wealth. Pioneering spaceman But little compares to the pride Russia has taken in shooting the torch up to the ISS aboard the same type of rocket the Soviets used for launching pioneering spaceman Yuri Gagarin in 1961.u00a0&ldquo;Taking the Olympic torch to space - only we are capable of that,&rdquo; a state television presenter boasted on Thursday during a news show about the upcoming February 7-23 Sochi Games. The bold claim is not actually true. u00a0Torches also left the planet aboard US space shuttle voyages ahead of the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and the 2000 event in Sydney. But never has a torch been taken out for a spacewalk until Saturday.

Two cosmonauts took the Olympic torch - unlit - for a spacewalk on Saturday in a historic showcasing of Russia's Sochi Winter Olympic Games in three months' time. Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kotov ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) with the torch held ceremonially in his gloved hand and his every move beamed live across the nation by Russian state TV.

Olympic torch taken for a spacewalk

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Olympic torch taken for a spacewalk

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