~ Bride & Groom ~ Ekaterina Dmitriev |
 Yuri Malenchenko |
He was 240 miles above New Zealand aboard the International Space Station while she had her feet on the ground at the Johnson Space Center at Houston.
The ceremony. American astronaut Edward Lu, the other member of the current ISS crew, was best man. He played the Wedding March on a portable electronic keyboard.
Family friend Harry Noe stood in on the ground for the groom as Clear Lake, Texas, justice of the peace William Yeoman pronounced Malenchenko, 41, and Dmitriev, 27, husband and wife.
Among the wedding party members on the ground, Malenchenko and Lu could be seen on a large TV screen. The bride and groom placed rings on their own fingers.
At a reception after the ceremony, Malenchenko and Lu were seen in the form of life-size cardboard cut-outs dressed in their space station work suits with bow ties.
Their history. Born in Russia, Dmitriev moved to the United States when she was three years old. Malenchenko, who was named for Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space back in 1961, met Dmitriev in 1998.
Their relationship started in 2002 after they met again at a Houston night club during a Yuri Gagarin Night celebration. They lived together after that until Malenchenko flew to the space station in April 2003.
Their plans. After Malenchenko comes down to Earth, they will repeat their vows in a church wedding in Russia and then honeymoon in Australia.
Later, they will settle down in Moscow so he can continue his career as an astronaut. She told a Houston newspaper that she would like to open a vitamin store.
Malenchenko is expecting to fly down to Earth on October 28, 2003.
What did they wear? Dmitriev wore a sleeveless ivory gown with gold stars in her dark brown hair. Malenchenko and Lu wore their regulation blue-gray work suits embellished with bow ties and cumberbunds.
What did they eat? The ground party consumed smoked salmon, borscht, zakouska and karavai wedding bread. The ISS crew had the usual paste tube and freeze dried space food.
The law. Fort Bend County Clerk Dianne Wilson issued the marriage license for the historic occasion under Texas law, which permitted a member of a couple to be absent if an explanatory affidavit was filed.
Russian authorities permitted the wedding, but grumbled about officers serving in the armed forces usually being barred from marrying foreigners. Malenchenko is a colonel in the Russian Air Force. He is from Svetlovodsk in Ukraine, which was part of the former Soviet Union.
It was Dmitriev's first marriage and Malenchenko's second. He had an 18-year-old son, Dmitri, from his first marriage from which he recently had been divorced.
Learn more:
- Yuri I. Malenchenko biographical sketch NASA
- County Clerk Issues Marriage License The Fort Bend Star newspaper, Fort Bend County
- County Clerk to Attend Wedding The Fort Bend Star newspaper, Fort Bend County
- Wedding Day is Special News 24 Houston, Time Warner Cable