Mon, Aug 11, 2003
Russia Permits Malenchenko Nuptials
It's been billed by the Russian Space Agency (RSA) as
the first -- and last -- space wedding involving a cosmonaut.
Orbiting 240 miles above the Earth, Yuri Malenchenko tied the knot
Sunday with his Russian-born sweetheart, now a US citizen living in
Houston (TX). ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, the only other occupant
aboard Space Station Alpha right now, acted as best man.
As the ISS hurtled around the globe at 17,500 miles an hour, the
41-year old cosmonaut and his 26-year old love, Yekaterina
Dmitriyeva, promised to love, honor and cherish over a radio link
between the station and Houston. The couple plans to be married
again in a Russian church after the ISS-7 crew returns to
Earth.
The couple wed Sunday before family and friends in a private
ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Col. Malenchenko
took part via video. Texas law allows weddings in which one of the
parties is not present. "It was very sweet," said Joanne Woodward,
the wedding planner. A life-size cutout of the groom greeted guests
at the wedding reception, at a restaurant decorated with silver
stars and mannequins dressed as astronauts
RSA spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said before the wedding that he had
no objection. "Marriage is a cosmonaut's own business," he told the
ITAR-TASS news agency. "Actions by cosmonauts in orbit are
regulated by the inter-governmental Code of Cosmonauts' Conduct on
Board the ISS which contains no direct ban on marriages." Yeah, but
Malenchenko is also a Russian military officer and, as such, is
privy to secure information. His marriage to a foreigner could be
career-ending. So, Moscow has decided to fill in the loopholes.
Gorbunov promised that, in the future, "Space marriages will
be forbidden." To put a point on it, he said this would be made
explicit in cosmonauts' contracts.
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