On this day in 2003, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko created history by becoming the first person to get married while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The unusual wedding ceremony connected Malenchenko, floating 250 miles above Earth, to his American fiancée Ekaterina Dmitriev in Texas through a satellite video link.
The ceremony, as per reports, took place through a live video link between NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the ISS. Malenchenko, being on an extended space mission, topped his regular formal space suit with a bow tie for the wedding, and Dmitriev wore a traditional ivory wedding dress. The wedding date of the couple had previously been set for an on-Earth celebration with a guest list of more than 200. But as Malenchenko’s stay on the ISS was lengthened, they decided on a long-distance “orbital wedding” instead.
From Long-Distance Love To Celestial Vows
In Houston, Dmitriev stood next to a life-size cardboard cutout of Malenchenko. She walked down the aisle to a David Bowie song timed with the ISS re-entering sunlight south of New Zealand, according to NBC. On the ISS, fellow astronaut Edward Lu played the wedding march on a portable keyboard a moment the wedding planner described as “very sweet.” Dmitriev blew a kiss to her new husband during the ceremony, and the cosmonaut reciprocated from space.
Referring to The New York Times at the time, Dmitriev stated, “As Yuri was farther away, he was nearer to me due to the communication we have.” She afterwards explained the moment as symbolic: “An orbital wedding captures mankind’s desire and necessity to take one step further.”
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The couple had been used to a long-distance relationship for a long time. Malenchenko trained for space missions in Russia while his partner, Dmitriev, remained in the US. They met the first time at a party marking Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight, and their romance endured despite time differences and distances. Dmitriev called their relationship a “celestial, soulful connection.” Malenchenko, a veteran astronaut, had flown on several missions and spacewalks, receiving Russia’s highest distinction, the Hero of the Russian Federation.