Sarah Brightman Postpones　

　　　　　　　　　a Space Trip

　The American space travel agency Space Adventure announced that British soprano singer Sarah Brightman (54)who was going to stay in the International Space Station (ISS) as a citizen astronaut, postponed her plan on May 13. Space Travel founder and manager Satoshi Takamatsu (52), who has been training as a backup crew member in Russia, may be chosen as a successor. According to Space Adventures, Sarah Brightman was going to board the Russian spaceship Soyuz this September and go to the ISS for ten days. Brightman contracted with the space travel company in 2012 and announced that she would carryout the space trip to the ISS. Thereafter she continued training necessary for a flight in Russia of space travelers (space flight participants) who go to space by self-financing, she would have become the 8th. She had an ideda of holding ' live broadcasting ' from the ISS and also had hoped to do space education for children. The reason of the postponement was stated as " the circumstanses of my personal family " and it is unknown whether her aim can be tried again. " Engineers prepare for the flight, but I only sing and sing chorus with children and an orchestra. It must be wonderful if it is possible." Though she was expressing her wishes, it was decided to abandon the plan. Songs that she would sing in the spacecraft had been expected to be like the lyrics of the hit song from Phantom of the Opera "Time to Say Goodbye". The cost to participate in the tour is said to be a whopping $ 52 million ( about 6 billion yen ) for one traveler. 

　Incidentally, Satoshi Takamatsu, former employee of major advertising agency Dentsu ,who made space commercials like “ Pocarisweat” and “Instant Cup Noodle” with space scenes actually photographed in space, has been in training in Russia as a private astronaut candidate since January.　( He also serves as representative of the current space travel agency Space Travel)

                　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  from Asahi Shinbun, August 12, 2015　　　

　Sarah Brightman is a British soprano singer and actress. She gained success as a musical actress in the 1980s and she has been active as a solo singer since the 1990s. Her original music-style that fuses classical and pop music has brought global recognition to classical crossover. The success of the original cast and Christine Daae of " Phantom of the Opera " in 1986 showed her name to the world with a bang. She became a familliar name for Japanese with her song " Phantom of the Opera " by Kohaku-Uta-Gassen on a singing contest on NHK in Japan in 1991.