Sarah Brightman’s next tour stop: the International Space Station
British classical soprano Sarah Brightman plans to head for the stars, becoming the latest tourist to visit the International Space Station.
Brightman, 52, announced her planned trip during a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday, the same day the cargo-loaded SpaceX mission made history by connecting with the space station.
Brightman said she wants to be the first professional musician to sing from space during her 16 spins around the Earth, according to a statement from Russian-based Space Adventures Ltd.
She’s to be aboard the space station for 10 days, though no flight schedule has been set yet.
The UNESCO artist for peace ambassador said in the statement: “I hope that I can encourage others to take inspiration from my journey both to chase down their own dreams and to help fulfill the important UNESCO mandate to promote peace and sustainable development on Earth and from space.”
Her plan has her releasing a new record, “Dreamchaser,” in January, followed by a world tour. After that, she’s to begin a six-month training period in Moscow that she’ll write about on her Cosmonaut in Training blog.
Space Adventures says Brightman passed mental and physical evaluations for the training program in July.
The BBC reported that Brightman will be the seventh tourist to board the space station. American Dennis Tito was the first in 2001. The cost of the trip wasn’t disclosed, but Cirque du Soleil Chief Executive Guy Laliberte paid $35 million for his trip in 2009, the BBC said.
In the YouTube video above, Brightman explains her reasons for wanting to go into space.
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