spacetoday.net: Status of ISS cosmonaut's wedding plans uncertain

Posted: Sat, Jul 19, 2003, 2:24 PM ET (1824 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

Plans by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko to get married while still on the International Space Station may or may not have been put on hold, according to conflicting reports. On Thursday the county clerk in Fort Bend County, Texas, issued a marriage license to Malenchenko and his fiancee, Ekaterina Dmitriev, a US citizen born in Russia; the two planned to marry in a ceremony in Texas next month, with Malenchenko participating from the station via a radio link. However, Russian officials on Friday said that such a ceremony could not take place for a variety of reasons, including the fact that marriage ceremonies are not explicitly permitted in ISS crew regulations. A Rosaviakosmos official told Russia news media Friday that Malenchenko had agreed to postpone the ceremony until he returns to Earth this fall. However, Dmitriev and family friend Harry Noe told the Houston Chronicle that, despite those reports, the marriage ceremony was still on; Noe said he spoke with Malenchenko late Friday, who said he still planned to go through with the August 10 ceremony.