Fly me to the Moon: Japan firm offers weddings in space

[American Patriot]

A rocket blasted off into space

Related News

• Japan's First Advantage offers space weddings in 2011
  RIA Novosti - 21 hours ago

Fly me to the Moon: Japan firm offers weddings in space

1 day ago
TOKYO (AFP) — A Japanese firm on Tuesday began accepting reservations for couples who really want to make the big leap -- by blasting into space to exchange their wedding vows.


Each happy couple will spend 240 million yen (2.3 million dollars) for the ceremony in a small space vessel, which will shoot up 100 kilometres (60 miles) into the sky.


During the hour-long flight, the couple will spend several minutes in zero gravity during which they will exchange their vows with up to three guests present, said Taro Katsura, a spokesman for Japanese firm First Advantage.


The couple would perform most of the ceremony before takeoff "so that they can say their vows and look out the window," Katsura said.
The firm is offering the space marriages in a tie-up with US-based Rocket Plane, which will conduct the flights from a private airport in Oklahoma.


From the spaceship, the couple would probably be able to see the outline of the Earth although they will not be far enough into space to allow complete floating, Katsura said.


Despite launching the offer in Japan, the company said it expected most of its customers to be from China or Arab Gulf nations. There are currently no plans to start the space weddings in the United States, Katsura said.


Space tourism has been seeing a boom of sorts since 2001, when American millionaire businessman Dennis Tito paid 20 million dollars to Russia's space agency to become the first person to pay his own ticket into space.

[American Patriot]

		World
		Japan's First Advantage offers space weddings in 2011
		19:53 | 01/ 07/ 2008

TOKYO, July 1 (RIA Novosti) - A Japanese company that arranges weddings has teamed up with a U.S. commercial space transportation firm to offer marriage ceremonies in space from 2011, Japanese media reported Tuesday.
First Advantage and Rocket Plane will charge couples around $2.3 million for an hour-long flight to an altitude of around 100 km, which should give several minutes of weightlessness.


The bride and groom will be allowed to take a priest and two guests onboard, and their ceremony will be beamed live back to Earth.


The price also includes a wedding dress, a wedding party on the ground, as well as accommodation, transportation and a compulsory four-day training course.