The first space wedding took place on March 20, 2009, when Ekaterina Dmitriev, a Russian citizen and U.S. citizen, married Yuri Malenchenko in orbit. The couple were joined in space by a satellite link, and the ceremony took place in Houston, Texas. While the bride and groom sat on Earth, the entire wedding was filmed and streamed online. Although the first space wedding was a little surreal, the event was well received by the media.
The Space Wedding was conducted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and lasted for about an hour. Both Yuri and his wife had moved to Russia but did not renounce their U.S. citizenship. The ceremony took place in Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, and the couple married in June 2006. They later had a daughter named Camilla. In the media, many experts believed that Yuri Malenchenko’s career would come to an end after his space wedding, but he went on to complete two more ISS missions. It is unclear why the U.S. Air Force did not allow him to marry his wife in space, but he was allowed to perform the ceremony by proxy while Ed Lu performed a live broadcast from Houston.
After the wedding, Malenchenko was allowed to return to Earth, but before that, he was denied promotion to the first deputy head of the CPC. The cosmonaut’s position requires access to classified information, and this position was not given to him. The security service at Roscosmos told him that he was not suitable for the position because he was married in space. A space wedding is not allowed, but it still has its benefits.
A space wedding can be a symbol of the future of mankind’s expansion into space. The couple had a religious wedding in Russia, and chose a church in Yaroslavl, a city north of Moscow with traditional Russian church architecture. Yuri Malenchenko’s wife, Ekaterina Dmitriev, greeted him on the mission and welcomed him into her arms. Their plans were initially disapproved by Russian space officials, but were eventually approved by the agency.
According to Russian officials, the couple married in a private space in mid-space. The space wedding was broadcast as a “private family conference.” A friend of the couple filmed the ceremony in Houston, Texas, and blew kisses to the bride as he entered the chapel. The two are now married in a religious ceremony. The wedding was transmitted via satellite to the U.S. for the first time. During the ceremony, the couple swore in their new home.
A space wedding in Houston has the added advantage of a unique ceremony, a unique atmosphere, and a wedding in outer space. The wedding will be broadcast in a “private family conference” and will be classified as a space wedding. Afterwards, the couple will have their first anniversary in the same location, where they met. The ceremony will be broadcast on a satellite. It will be a memorable day for the couple.