Sarah Brightman Postpones ISS Trip For Personal Reasons, But Tom Hanks & 7 Celebrities Book £150,000 Virgin Galactic Space Flights
Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman has postponed her planned trip to the International Space Station, or ISS. In a tweet, she cited personal reasons for the change.
Brightman, who had been training in Star City near Moscow, was scheduled to leave aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on Sept 1. While in ISS, she was supposed to sing a song that her ex-husband, composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, has written for the event, reports the Telegraph.
According to Eric Anderson, chairman and co-founder of Space Adventures, which would handle the space tourism flight to the ISS, the soprano has already passed the training and medical tests. “We applaud her determination and we’ll continue to support her as she pursues a future spaceflight opportunity,” The Telegraph quotes Anderson.
However, the galaxy won’t be missing “stars” from Earth who would travel to space. The British daily cites at least eight other celebrities who plan to go on a space tour. It cited Tom Hanks, Victoria Principal, Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Russell Brand, Justin Bieber and Ashton Kucher as among the star who have reportedly booked places for the trip aboard, Virgin Galactic, a spacecraft owned by Sir Richard Branson. Ticket prices costs £150,000.
Brightman had paid $64 million for the trip. News.com.au reports that Russian space officials are seeking a replacement for the singer who, according to speculations, allegedly pulled out due to safety issues following the loss of contact of an unmanned supply aircraft bound for the ISS after it was launched in April and returned to Earth.
The diva’s condition for flying to space was complete safety. “She didn’t want to risk a hair,” RIA Novosti quotes Space News magazine editor Igor Marinin. Interfax admits the chance of finding a suitable candidate to fill the slot vacated by Brightman is slim because of the little time left for training.
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