Weightless wedding

An American couple recently exchanged vows in a state of weightlessness during a zero-g flight. A first which indicates a possible trend for the space sensation market.

 

New-Yorkers, Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan were married in weightlessness by Richard Garriott (on the bride’s right), son of an astronaut and space tourist! Credit: Zero-G Corporation

On 20 June 2009, a Zero-G Corporation airplane took off from a small aerodrome close to Cape Canaveral to perform its space sensation service once again in the Florida sky.
The aircraft is a standard Boeing 727 (a three-engine commercial jet airliner) modified to accommodate paying passengers wanting to experience several periods of twenty seconds of weightlessness. The plane achieves this by climbing to an altitude of 10 km at an angle of 45°; it then stops its ascension to fly a bell-shaped curve and plummet back down at a 45°angle. The trajectory follows the exact shape of a parabola, hence the term parabolic flight. During twenty or so seconds, just before and just after the top of the parabola, aircraft passengers experience weightlessness just like astronauts!

A media event
However, on 20 June 2009, part of the 727 belonging to the Zero-G Corporation was reserved for a special event: the first couple to get married in zero gravity. Obviously, this first was relayed by numerous media, but beyond its eccentric aspect, this union demonstrates that the space tourism market intends to widen its range of services to include the very latest trend.
To get a better understanding, let’s go back to our young married New York couple, Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan. First of all, they are almost a marketing text book case. They say that they met in a science-fiction fan club, have always dreamed of becoming astronauts and even wanted to get married in space. In the words of Erin Finnegan herself, the price of a trip in a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station being inaccessible (more than 25 million dollars per person), the zero-gravity flight made a “good compromise”.

Erin Finnegan and Noah Fulmor pose in front of the Zero-g Corporation 727. An airplane which flies in parabolas, creating periods of weightlessness lasting twenty or so seconds. Credit: Zero-G Corporation

Although the young couple spent 16,000 dollars to reserve part of the Zero-g Corporation 727 for their wedding, they also transformed their nuptials into a gigantic media buzz. On their website and during their interviews, they have no hesitation in focusing attention on the fashion designers who took part in this event, with notably, Chris Ploof, the designer of their wedding rings which contain small pieces of meteorites, and the Japanese Eric Matsui who is responsible for the bride’s wedding dress. Eric Matsui who has made his intention to design clothes around the space theme perfectly clear. And the loop is looped when we point out that the ceremony was conducted by Richard Garriott, the sixth space tourist (a ten day flight to the Station in October 2008). Richard Garriott (son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott) bought his trip in orbit from the American company Space Adventures who also just happen to own Zero-G Corporation!

An expanding market
Space Adventures obviously knows that the number of potential customers for Russian Soyuz spacecraft remains limited due to the cost, and therefore, offers this service with its parabolic flights as their “starter product”. It is clear that a real marketing logic is being set up where the prestigious trip in orbit plays the role of the star at the top of the range, and the driving force behind an entire economy based on the space dream. A little like the luxury, sports version of a given car creates an image which helps to sell the more reasonably priced models. So, what are the other, more affordable, products? Well, as of 2010, there will be Virgin Galactic flights to take passengers who will float in zero gravity for several minutes, who will see the curvature of the Earth and a black sky, even in broad daylight, just like astronauts. And, even though it will not go into orbit, “astronauts’ wings” will theoretically be awarded to the customers of this company created by Richard Branson since they will have exceeded an altitude of 100 km: where “space” starts. There is little doubt that one day, a very well-off couple will, in turn, want to exchange nuptials in this way, not only in weightlessness but also this time in space. Attention however, the price of the ticket will be around 200,000 dollars per person. And just so that things are clear, this will not actually be the first space wedding as in August 2003, Russian Yuri Malenchenko said a very official “yes” to his fiancée back on Earth with 200 guests via radio communication from the International Space Station (following this, the Russian Space Agency formally prohibited its cosmonauts from participating in such ceremonies).

On the left: Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic. On the right: Burt Rutan, designer of the space plane which will take tourists to an altitude of more than 100 km (where “space” starts) after taking off from a special airport, currently under construction in New Mexico. Credit: Virgin Galactic

Parabolic flights are on the next page of this catalogue of space sensations at the more attractive price of 4,950 dollars per person for Zero-g Corporation. In France, things are moving under the direction of astronaut Jean-François Clervoy who, at the head of Novespace (subsidiary of the French Space Agency CNES), shortly intends to organise flights aboard this company’s A-300 Zero-G which will be accessible to the general public. Prices, together with terms and conditions, are currently being defined. Moreover, the parabolic flight of the RTL-CNES competition winner during the Paris Air Show 2009 (see this article) was a clear demonstration of this desire to open up the market.
The space sensation market in its widest sense, where the possibility of approaching space, has potentially existed for numerous years with, for example, the Visitor Complex in the Kennedy Space Center, the “Cité de l’Espace” in Toulouse as well as space themed rides like Mission: Space in Disney’s Epcot theme park in Orlando, Florida (created in partnership with NASA).
The weightless wedding of the New York couple also shows that the “space label” is now spreading more and more into fields such as jewellery design (wedding rings), fashion (bride’s dress) and quite simply themed functions (their wedding would never have known such media exposure otherwise). A possible trend which could radically change the way in which the space industry is viewed by the general public.

Published on 23 June 2009