It’s still not possible to have a truly out-of-this world wedding or honeymoon yet, but if Sir Richard Branson has his way, you soon will.
Branson’s Virgin Galactic arm is working with famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan to create a launch system with a mothership that can launch a suborbital spaceplane that will be able to land at a private spaceport.
Virgin Galactic is already taking orders for $200,000 tickets that will guarantee space tourists an all-accommodations three day package that includes hotel rooms, training, transportation to and from the launch site, and all meals and some celebratory champagne for the amateur astronauts to crack.
Although the WhiteKnightTwo spaceplane won’t take you to orbit, you can experience up to seven minutes of weightlessness in a plush and comfortable, surprisingly roomy interior.
Look out one of the many viewing ports that stud the craft’s fuselage and you’re treated to a view of the Earth that only a handful of people have ever had before.
What setting could be more special or romantic than that for an actual wedding ceremony, or a spectacular start to a honeymoon?
I mean if you have the money for it.
Getting married aboard WhiteKnightTwo wouldn’t even necessitate transporting a minister into space.
You could arrange ahead of time to have him contact you by video link at the edge of space so that you and your intended could exchange vows and rings.
The four other passengers and two-person flight crew could be your witnesses and videographers.
So far, there’s no established protocol for spaceship captains marrying people in flight, so the wisest course of action for the space-happy couple would be to have their clergyperson or official on the ground, ready to perform the ceremony.
Of course, for would-be astronauts of more limited means, perhaps the wisest course would be to petition Sir Richard to stage a contest so that anyone could win a ride.
Or, ask him if he’d send you up so that you could be the first couple married in space.
Sir Richard didn’t get where he is by playing the fool.
Canny promoter that he is, he might jump at the chance for all of the free publicity that wedding would generate!
The picture rights alone would be worth a fortune to the world’s gossip mags.
This is an idea whose time has come.
Who will be first couple intrepid enough to tie the knot in zero G?
Will it be movie stars, rock-n-rollers, wealthy high rollers who want the bragging rights?
There’s no telling at this point, but you’ve got to know that it’s only a matter of time before someone does it, and the whole world will be watching.
