Even in space, it is impossible to escape the gravitational pull of Martha Stewart.

With the help of an aluminum hamper full of gourmet food, the American domestic science goddess has managed to steal the limelight from a Soyuz space mission carrying Charles Simonyi, her billionaire boyfriend, on a $26 million tourist ticket.

Ms. Stewart was present when the mission took off in Kazakhstan and was one of the first to speak to the Expedition 15 crew as their spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Monday.

As Mr. Simonyi, a Hungarian computer software tycoon who helped to develop Microsoft, floated upside down, Miss Stewart told him: “We all think you’re intrepid and pioneering. And above all, guess what, you’re out of this world.”

Ms. Stewart prepared a meal for Mr. Simonyi to take along and share with his two Russian colleagues. The carefully chosen and widely publicized six-course menu includes quail roasted in Madiran wine, duck breast confit with capers, shredded chicken parmentier, and rice pudding with candied fruit. It will replace the more boring cosmonaut fare tomorrow when the three voyagers will eat a special dinner to celebrate the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight in 1961. Ms. Stewart’s apparently effortless talent for publicity has helped to explain the remarkable turnaround in her business fortunes since she emerged from prison two years ago after being jailed for lying to investigators about her share dealings. In a further expansion of her lifestyle empire, her website was relaunched yesterday as an information portal providing Ms. Stewart’s authoritative voice on domestic matters to the millions of affluent American women who surf the internet.