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| Singer Sarah Brightman calls off tourist flight to International Space Station | |
| (25 days later) | |
| British soprano Sarah Brightman called off plans for a flight to the International Space Station, citing family reasons, the singer said in a statement on Wednesday. | |
| Brightman began training in Russia’s Star City in January for a ride aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule and 10-day stay on the station, a $100bn research laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418km) above Earth. | |
| The trip would have cost her about $52m, said Space Adventures, the privately owned US travel agency that arranged the expedition. | |
| “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,” a statement on the singer’s Facebook page said. | |
| Brightman was to be the eighth paying tourist to visit the station, a project of 15 nations. One passenger, Microsoft Corp co-founder Charles Simonyi, has made the trip twice. | |
| Japanese entrepreneur Satoshi Takamatsu had been training as Brightman’s backup and presumably is in position to take over her seat. Space Adventures did not immediately reply to a request for comment. | |
| Brightman was preparing for a September flight. That launch was likely to be delayed following the announcement on Tuesday that Russia is postponing the next station crew’s launch two months until late July because of a Soyuz rocket accident investigation. | |
| It was not known if Brightman’s decision to cancel her training and flight is related to the launch delay. |