Considering that they're no longer on Earth, it's pretty impressive that people still figure out how to do normal activities in outer space. They eat burgers, tweet out photos and now, people will be singing in space. Sarah Brightman, the famed British soprano who has starred in Broadway productions such as Phantom of the Opera and Cats, is planning on singing aboard the International Space Station.
In a press conference, Brightman revealed that on her journey aboard the ISS she would like to sing and connect with a choir or orchestra on Earth. She also added that she has been working with her ex-husband, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, to create a song that "suits the idea of space."
"He has come up with the most beautiful line for something, so we are just taking it slowly at the moment," she said about working with Llyod-Webber. "It's finding a song which suits the idea of space and something that is incredibly simple because to sing in microgravity is a very, very different thing to singing down here."
Brightman, who will be the eighth space tourist ever to go into space, is part of a three-person crew traveling to the ISS. After blasting off in a Soyuz space rocket, she will spend 10 days in space. But she won't just be singing. She'll be a working part of the team, assisting in the upkeep of the space station. To get ready for the trip, Brightman has undergone two years of intensive training with NASA. It has been reported that she has spent approximately $50 million for the experience.
But this isn't the first time that space has experienced a musical moment. In 2013, a video of astronaut Chris Hadfield singing a rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" from the ISS went viral on Youtube. Chris Hadfield also has a SoundCloud account where he has a pretty extensive library of sounds from space. You can hear everything from the sound of a spacesuit's internal pump to how a toilet sounds in space.
As for Brightman, she states that being constantly on the road and suffering from jetlag has prepared her for the emotional journey up ahead.
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