Soprano to soar into space

'Phantom' star Sarah Brightma wil become the first professional singer to visit the international Space Station later this year.

'Phantom' star Sarah Brightma wil become the first professional singer to visit the international Space Station later this year.

Published Jan 16, 2015

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Cape Canaveral – British singer Sarah Brightman is expected to blast off in October for a 10-day stay on the International Space Station, NASA said on Thursday.

The soprano, famed for her starring role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera”, will pay about $52 million for a round-trip ride aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, said US-based Space Adventures, the private firm arranging the trip.

Brightman, 54, will become the eighth tourist and first professional singer to visit the orbital outpost, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth.

One tourist, Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi, made two trips.

Since NASA retired its space shuttles in 2011, Russian Soyuz capsules have been fully booked flying crew to and from the station, a project of 15 nations.

The last tourist to fly was Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, who spent 11 days aboard the station in 2009, at a cost of about $35 million.

A Soyuz seat for a paying passenger is available in the European autumn because Russia needs to supply a fresh capsule to bring home two station crewmen who are planning to make unprecedented year-long stays in space. Soyuz are designed to stay in orbit for six months.

Cosmonaut and incoming station crewmember Sergey Volkov will pilot the replacement Soyuz that will carry European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Brightman, NASA flight director Emily Nelson said from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Brightman arrived in Russia this week and was scheduled to begin a nine-month training program on Thursday, but it was postponed until next week so she could recover from a cold, Russia’s ITAR-TASS news service reported.

A second aspiring space tourist, Japanese entrepreneur Satoshi Takamatsu, also arrived at Russia’s Star City training centre to prepare for a spaceflight.

He will serve as Brightman’s backup if she is unable to make the trip.

Reuters

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