Japan firm offers space weddings at $2.3 mln

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- A Japanese firm on Tuesday began accepting reservations for couples who want to exchange their wedding vows in space, media reported Wednesday.

The hour-long space ceremony, which will bring the couple up 100 kilometres into the sky, might cost each couple 240 million yen (2.3 million dollars).

During the flight, the couple will spend several minutes in zero gravity during which they might 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 U.S.-based Rocket Plane, which will conduct the flights from a private airport in Oklahoma.

The company said it expects most of its customers to be from China or the Gulf nations, but has no plan to start the business in the United States at present.

(Agencies)