While the Flightglobal Hyperbola column reported newswire reports of her negotiations in August, in early October the singer Sarah Brightman formally announced that she has booked a seat on a Soyuz to the International Space Station via the space tourism arranger, Space Adventures. Brightman, who was once a dancer in the sensous dance troupe “Hot Gossip” and once had a minor pop song hit with “I lost my heart to a starship trooper”, will have a 10-day stay on the station in 2015. Now a well regarded soprano singer, Brightman, is also the former wife of the famous stage musical composer, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber.
Having passed medical tests, the 52-year-old singer will being her Cosmonaut training shortly.Brightman apparently had to battle for the seat with NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, as most of the “extra seats” had been booked until 2016. It was only after NASA and Roscosmos decided to send a two crew team (one astronaut and one cosmonaut) on a 12 month stay to the space station mimicking the length of a Mars mission flight in microgravity conditions that two “tourist seats” became available.
While the terms of Brightman’s flight in 2015 have not been disclosed, NASA currently pays $63 million per flight. Brightman is reported to be working with UNESCO to perform demonstrations and experiments to promote girls’ aspiration for careers in engineering and science.
