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.

FMI: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/rsa/rsa.html