British artist Sarah Brightman is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, which will cost the singer about $52 million.
Brightman's space escapade is expected to last for 10 days. The musician's space trip should not come as a surprise as she announced her expedition back in Oct. 2012. However, she has confirmed her plans now. Brightman says that she had a desire for a space journey all her life and her journey to the space will be the "greatest adventure" she could imagine.
"My music has always been inspired by space," said Brightman in 2012. "It was because of seeing the first man on the moon back in the '60s that actually inspired me and gave me the courage to go into the career that I had. At moments when I'm feeling nervous onstage or I'm feeling unsure I actually look to the stars and the planets and space and it gives me courage and inspiration."
Even though Brightman will not be the first space tourist, she hopes to become the first professional singer to sing from space. However, Brightman faces competition as according to reports released in 2013, pop singer Lady Gaga also intends to be the first to perform a song in space in early 2015. Lady Gaga apparently intends to perform from space on a Virgin Galactic flight that will provide spaceflights to space tourists soon.
The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, previously said that Brightman was physically fit and mentally prepared for her space voyage. Brightman's training to fly on Russian spacecraft Soyuz will start as early as this fall. Brightman is expected to fly to space in a three-man crew Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in Sept. 2015.
Brightman will only be the eighth self-funded space tourist and rumors have been surfacing that there is a long list of millionaires who wish to travel to space. However, as the spacecraft to the ISS carry professional astronauts, seats for space tourists are very limited.
Reports suggest that Google's co-founder Sergey Brin has already paid a deposit to travel to the space after Brightman. Brin will get the next available seat in Soyuz, which is likely to be in 2017.
Guy Lalibarte, the Canadian entrepreneur and billionaire, was the last space tourist who paid $35 million for his 11-day trip in Sept. 2009.
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