Soprano Sarah Brightman, who planned to travel to the International Space Station to sing in space, has postponed her plans, citing "personal reasons." The 54-year-old entertainer was preparing for a trip to space when she decided she would not fly to the orbiting outpost.
Space Adventures, the company assisting Brightman, announced on May 13 that the popular singer will not be making the flight as scheduled. Liftoff for the soprano was planned for Sept. 1.
"Since 2012, Sarah has shared her story of a lifelong dream to fly to space. Her international fame as the world's best-selling soprano has enabled her message to circle the globe, inspiring others to pursue their own dreams," Eric Anderson, chairman and co-founder of Space Adventures, said.
The soprano, once married to "Cats" composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, was working on a new song that she had planned to perform aboard the space station.
A personal announcement of the cancellation was delivered on Brightman's Facebook page.
"Sarah Brightman announced today that she is postponing her plans to launch aboard the upcoming Soyuz TMA-18M spaceflight mission. Ms. Brightman said that for personal family reasons her intentions have had to change and she is postponing her cosmonaut training and flight plans at this time," the singer told her fans.
Friends close to the singer say she ended her cosmonaut training on April 22, 2015, following several months of medical checks and activities designed to prepare her for the flight. Although nothing has been formally announced, it is possible the entertainer could fly to the space station on a future mission.
"We've seen firsthand her dedication to every aspect of her spaceflight training and to date, [she] has passed all of her training and medical tests. We applaud her determination and we'll continue to support her as she pursues a future spaceflight opportunity," Anderson said.
The formal announcement cancelling her flight came soon after the failure of an unmanned Russian spacecraft which failed to reach orbit. That accident was the result of leaky propellant tanks in the Soyuz rocket carrying the vehicle into space.
Brightman would have been the ninth private citizen to pay for travel to the space station, and the second woman to do so. The last person to pay for a trip to the ISS arrived at the orbiting outpost in 2009. Her flight was made possible due, in part, to two open seats on a flight headed to the ISS, as the missions of astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko were extended to last nearly a year. Time magazine reports the cost as $52 million for 10 days.
