Liftoff in T-minus…Never mind! Sarah Brightman has spent the last few months training for a 10-day trip to the International Space Station in September, but it looks as if it may have been for naught. On Wednesday, May 13, the famed soprano announced that she had decided to postpone the mission for "personal family reasons."
Brightman, 54 — who was married to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and originated the role of Christine Daae in his classic, blockbuster musical The Phantom of the Opera — was supposed to be the first professional singer to perform live in space. As reported by USA Today back in March, she was even working with her composer ex on a special song.
In a statement about the change of plans on her website — which still features a space theme — the British star said she was "postponing her cosmonaut training and flight plans" aboard the Soyuz TMA-18M spaceflight mission. Per USA Today, the trip was arranged through a company called Space Adventures, and was rumored to cost around $50 million.
"Since 2012, Sarah has shared her story of a lifelong dream to fly to space," Space Adventures co-founder Eric Anderson said in a note on her site. "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."
He went on to praise her "dedication to every aspect of her spaceflight training" thus far, saying, "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."
