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

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 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.

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.

期待在太空举行婚礼的新人可以美梦成真了。日本一家公司于本周二起开始接受“太空婚礼”预定。

想体验“太空婚礼”的新人得支付2.4亿日元（230万美元）的费用，他们将乘坐小型太空飞船飞抵距离地面100公里的高空。

据推出此项服务的日本“第一优势”公司的发言人桂太郎介绍，在一小时的飞行中，新人将在几分钟的失重状态下交换婚誓，现场最多可有三名亲朋见证。

桂太郎说，婚礼仪式的大部分程序将在起飞之前完成，这样“新人们就有时间互立婚誓，并可欣赏舱外的风景”。

“第一优势”公司与美国“火箭飞机”公司合作，推出了这项服务，搭乘新人的太空飞船将从美国俄克拉荷马州的一个私人机场起飞。

新人们可在飞船内看到地球的轮廓，但由于高度不够，他们不会处于完全漂浮状态。

太空游从2001年开始兴起，当年，美国富商丹尼斯•蒂托向俄罗斯宇航局花2000万美元游太空，成为首位自费太空游游客。