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Posted on 07/18/2003 7:53:06 AM PDT by HAL9000
HOUSTON (Reuters) - International Space Station commander Yuri Malenchenko won't be standing next to his bride when he marries next month, he'll be orbiting 240 miles above the earth.In what could be the first space wedding, Malenchenko and Ekaterina Dmitritv will wed either by phone or proxy, his bride-to-be told reporters on Thursday after getting a marriage license in a Houston suburb.
"To me it's very exciting. I'm kind of used to doing things out of the norm, outside the box. He adapted to it and he loved the idea," Dmitritv, 26, said.
Dmitritv said Malenchenko proposed to her in December, then took off for the space station in April. Now, he does not want to wait for his return from space in late October to marry.
NASA spokesman Rob Navias told Reuters a wedding by phone may not be possible because Malenchenko, 41, had assured officials that no space station resources would be used for the event.
If not, then Texas law permits a stand-in to take the bride or groom's place in the ceremony if they have a legitimate excuse.
Malenchenko's is fairly convincing.
"I am a Russian cosmonaut in outer space serving as the commander of the International Space Station," he wrote to Fort Bend County Clerk Dianne Wilson to explain why he could not apply for the marriage license in person.
Navias said he knew of no one who had gotten married while in space.
Unfortunately, the first space wedding will not be followed by the first zero-gravity honeymoon.
Instead, the couple will go to Australia after having a church wedding in Russia, said Dmitritv, who was born in the Soviet Union but moved to the United States with her family when she was 4 years old. She works for a Houston area personnel service.
I think that concept is overrated anyhow. Gravity has its advantages.
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Does he get to take the groom's place on the honeymoon, too?
A true understatement and definately... outside the box.
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