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Space & Astronomy

Sarah Brightman to go in to space next year

By T.K. Randall
June 16, 2014 · Comment icon 30 comments

Sarah Brightman performing on stage. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Svnnsmsn
The English soprano is set to pay $54 million for a ten day stint aboard the International Space Station.
The 53-year-old ex-wife of billionaire composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is hoping to be the first professional singer to perform in space after securing a trip to the ISS with the space tourism company Space Adventures.

If everything goes well Brightman could begin training for the trip within three months with the launch set for sometime next year aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Not to be outdone, pop star Lady Gaga has also recently expressed an interest in becoming the first singer in space by securing a ride on one of Virgin Galactic's first flights next year. It isn't clear who will make it up there first but both performances should prove to be highly memorable.

Neither Gaga nor Brightman however will be able to claim the title of the first person to sing in space, an accolade that has instead already gone to astronaut Chris Hadfield who famously uploaded footage of himself performing a rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" with his guitar from the International Space Station before returning to the Earth last year.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Comments (30)




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Comment icon #21 Posted by qxcontinuum 11 years ago
i dunno, with these money she could hire a team of experts building her own space shuttle.
Comment icon #22 Posted by praetorian-legio XIII 11 years ago
Note the the money isn't "throw" away or on fire or something. It is given to the government and could be use to invest on science and other "space" stuffs The money is going to a tourist company who've bribed the Russian government. I don't think a lot of "investing" in space stuffs will be going on.
Comment icon #23 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 11 years ago
i dunno, with these money she could hire a team of experts building her own space shuttle. You really don't know how much a space shuttle cost do you? It cost $1.7 billion to build the last shuttle, Endeavour. On top of that each mission cost an additional $450 million. $54 million is, comparatively speaking, a bargain.
Comment icon #24 Posted by Noteverythingisaconspiracy 11 years ago
To me the flight engineer on her mission is a lot more interesting. Andreas Mogensen (ESA) will be the first Dane in Space (Unfortunatly I was busy when they asked me !) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Mogensen Waspie_Dwarf has allready posted a thread about him: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=262647
Comment icon #25 Posted by DONTEATUS 11 years ago
Its a way to Keep Space in the News ! The money isnt a drop in the bucket to what it cost per-hour for them to do this !
Comment icon #26 Posted by qxcontinuum 11 years ago
You really don't know how much a space shuttle cost do you? It cost $1.7 billion to build the last shuttle, Endeavour. On top of that each mission cost an additional $450 million. $54 million is, comparatively speaking, a bargain. I believe, that is applicable only at nasa where a single screw ordered can cost a few thousands . In real life (private sector) things are much simpler and affordable and the screw will be built from the same alloy
Comment icon #27 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 11 years ago
I believe, that is applicable only at nasa where a single screw ordered can cost a few thousands . In real life (private sector) things are much simpler and affordable and the screw will be built from the same alloy You specified "space shuttle", since, in real life, the space shuttle WAS a NASA vehicle my figures are correct and yours are not. As no commercial vehicle has yet flown a crew the actual costs can only be estimated but the supposedly super cheap Dragon will still cost you about $20 million per seat (and that doesn't include the, not inconsiderable, cost of training, which IS inclu... [More]
Comment icon #28 Posted by The Sky Scanner 11 years ago
Good on her - her money she can spend it how she likes. In fact, given the amount you see spent on art or other areas of interest for people with these kinds of funds then i'd say her trip is money well spent. Hope she loves every second of it.
Comment icon #29 Posted by qxcontinuum 11 years ago
Waspie, i am a mechanical engineer, and apparently a damn good one. Eyes on papers, cost of materials, production, labour and such are no secret to me. All the materials required to ensemble a space shuttle including metals, wires, computers, tehnology, machinery etc... would not cost more than a few hundred thousand of dollars. That is the reality! Even made in gold wouldn't be that expensive! The rest is labour, union, entire lots of parts, waste, rebuts, made for just one piece, tests done to the extremes, paranoia toward safeties, ridiculous quality control, team meetings, lunches, vip exp... [More]
Comment icon #30 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 11 years ago
Waspie, i am a mechanical engineer, and apparently a damn good one. I don't care if you are the Queen of England, you are still talking absolute rubbish. I am not saying that it can't be done cheaper but your estimate is ludicrous. You could not build an airliner for what you claim. Just a reminder of what you actually said: i dunno, with these money she could hire a team of experts building her own space shuttle. The material cost of the shuttle may be low but many of those materials did not even exist when the shuttle was designed. R&D was a huge factor. What is the material cost of a Fo... [More]


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