‘Phantom of the Opera’ star Sarah Brightman to travel to space

Sarah Brightman, the original Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera,� is training to become a space tourist and is planning to travel to the International Space Station in 2015. The British singer made the announcement Wednesday at a news conference in Moscow.

Brightman said that she has begun training with the Russians to prepare for her 10-day voyage. The singer will travel to the station on a Soyuz spacecraft.

At the news conference, which has been posted to YouTube as well as the singer’s official website, Brightman plugged her “Dreamchaser� world tour, which is expected to end in 2013.

The singer is expected to start intensive cosmonaut training following the completion of her world tour. Her new album “Dreamchaser� is expected to be released in January.

Brightman, 52, will join a short but notable list of space tourists who have paid big bucks to travel aboard the space station. The list includes Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and video-game entrepreneur Richard Garriott. The cost associated with becoming a space tourist is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

The singer’s voyage is being organized by Space Adventures, a company that provides space tourism trips.

Brightman rose to fame in the original London and Broadway productions of “The Phantom of the Opera.� The singer was once married to the show’s composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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