The First Wedding in Space

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic plans to perform the world's first marriage in space, according to an article in the UK’s Daily Mail.

"We have had two bookings involving marriage, one to get married in space and the other for the couple to have their honeymoon in space," a Virgin Galactic spokesperson said, according to the article.

The two couples have booked seats on the company's first commercial flight into space, to take place in 2009.

The couple to be married was not identified, but the honeymooners are George T Whitesides, who is both an advisor for Virgin Galactic and executive director of the National Space Society in Washington, DC, US, and his new wife, space activist Loretta Hidalgo.

Richard Branson might conduct the marriage himself, the Virgin spokesperson said. In 2007, he officiated over an in-flight wedding aboard a Virgin America jet between the company's marketing director and his bride.

The Virgin Galactic marriage would be the first with both the bride and groom in space. But in 2003, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko exchanged vows from the International Space Station via a radio link with his Earth-bound bride Ekaterina Dmitriev.

I'm sure the space wedding will be an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. They will have to have a quick ceremony, though, since their voyage aboard Virgin's SpaceShipTwo will have them flying in space for only a few minutes.