Two New Yorkers got hitched in zero gravity Saturday in the
first publicized weightless wedding.
Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan said
"I do" June 20 while floating in microgravity in an airplane
converted for commercial weightless flights.
The vows took place in front of close family and friends
aboard a modified Boeing 727-200 plane owned by the Zero Gravity Corp. The
plane - which is filled with padded walls and floors for safety, and video
cameras to record the experience - took off from NASA's Kennedy Space
Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. It made steep dives while airborne to give the
bridal party eight full minutes of
weightlessness spread out in increments of about 30 seconds each.
The couple paid $5,400 per person for themselves and 10
guests to take the ride. The ceremony was officiated by space
tourist Richard Garriott, the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott,
who flew to the International Space Station last year in a $30 million deal brokered
by the company Space Adventures.
"I am honored to be taking part in Erin and Noah's
wedding," Garriott said. "I know firsthand the added thrill
microgravity will play in their already joyous event. The excitement from these
'first ever microgravity nuptials' will not soon fade in the minds of all the
members of the wedding party."
Saturday's weightless nuptials were not the first
space-themed wedding. In 2003, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko got married from
orbit while flying aboard the International Space Station.
But only Malenchenko was floating in weightlessness during
the ceremony, which he participated in via video. His bride, Ekaterina, was at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
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