Houston, Aug 11: The bride blew the groom a kiss. He blew one back - from about 385 km above terra firma. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko didn't let the fact that he's living aboard the international space station stop him from marrying his earthbound bride, Ekaterina Dmitriev, in the first wedding ever conducted from space.
The couple wed yesterday before family and friends in a private ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Malenchenko took part via video. Texas law allows weddings in which one of the parties is not present.
Dmitriev, who wore a cream-coloured wedding dress, said the two had grown closer during their time apart, making them want to marry as soon as possible. "As Yuri was further away, he was closer to me because of the communication we have," she said. "It was a celestial, soulful connection that we have."
"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. The honeymoon will have to wait until after Malenchenko, who wore a bow tie with his blue space suit, returns to earth in late October. They plan a Russian orthodox wedding sometime next year.
The two met at a social gathering five years ago and began dating last year.
He is a Russian Air Force Colonel who stayed aboard Space Station Mir for four months in 1994. She left Russia for the United States with her parents when she was three and lives in Houston. Bureau Report