Sarah Brightman Arrives in Russia, Preparing for Space Journey

“Brightman has returned to Moscow and has started preparations for the space flight,” Lonchakov said.

“The preparations are in line with the schedule,” he told TASS.

Last week, sources in the aerospace field reported that Brightman, who plans to fly to ISS this fall, had postponed her trip to Russia, initially scheduled for Jan. 15, for personal reasons.

Earlier, a spokesman for Russia’s space agency Roscosmos had informed that Brightman had left Moscow and flown to Britain to visit her ill mother.

Preparations should last for six months, forcing the singer to live permanently at the Cosmonaut Training Center, which would mean a temporary break from her musical career.

If all preparations develop as planned, Brightman would be the eighth tourist to visit the ISS, and the first since 2009, when Canadian businessman Guy Laliberte visited in a $50-million flight.