On this day 22 years ago, a Russian cosmonaut created history not with his space travel but by being the first person to get married while onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Yuri Malenchenko marked an unusual milestone by marrying Ekaterina Dmitriev, who was in Texas, USA, at the time.
According to reports, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko married his American girlfriend through a satellite hook-up between the ISS and NASA space control in Houston.
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On August 10, 2003, Malenchenko added a bow-tie to his formal space suit to honour the occasion. Dmitriev, waiting at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, wore a traditional ivory wedding dress.
"As Yuri was further away, he was closer to me because of the communication we have," Dmitriev told the New York Times at the time. She later told reporters, “An orbital wedding reflects mankind’s desire and need to go one step further.”
Why did the couple have a space wedding?
According to a Business Insider report published in 2019, the couple initially decided to have their wedding on Earth with a 200-person guest list. However, when Malenchenko's time on the space station got extended, they found another way to celebrate their love.
{{/usCountry}}According to a Business Insider report published in 2019, the couple initially decided to have their wedding on Earth with a 200-person guest list. However, when Malenchenko's time on the space station got extended, they found another way to celebrate their love.
{{/usCountry}}In the wedding, Dmitriev posed with a life-size cardboard cutout of Malenchenko. She walked down the aisle to a David Bowie song. During the ceremony, Malenchenko's best man, an astronaut, played the wedding march on a keyboard.
At one point, Dmitriev blew a kiss to her new husband via the video, and the cosmonaut returned the gesture with love.
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Before their long-distance wedding, the couple was used to having a long-distance relationship. According to Business Insider, they used to speak over the phone when Malenchenko was in Russia for space flight training and Dmitriev lived in the US.
Though Russia allowed Malenchenko to marry in space, the authorities made it clear that other cosmonauts could not follow in his footsteps regarding this unusual achievement. After getting married in space, Malenchenko returned home a few months later, in October, to reunite with his wife.