MOSCOW — British soprano and crossover singer Sarah Brightman announced in Moscow Wednesday that she will blast off as a space tourist to the International Space Station (ISS).



The singer, 52, known for her roles in West End musicals such as “The Phantom of the Opera”, would be the first tourist to go into space after a hiatus in the space tourism programme since 2009.



“I am planning to become a space flight participant,” Brightman told a news conference in Moscow. The schedule for her flight “will be determined very shortly by (Russian space agency) Roscosmos and the ISS partners,” she added.



Brightman added she had been approved medically and will do six months training in Russia.



The commercial flights to the ISS for space tourists are organized through US-based company Space Adventures, whose chairman Eric Anderson accompanied Brightman in Moscow. — AFP