Sarah Brightman backs out of ISS flight

Soprano Sarah Brightman today announced she is backing out of plans to fly to the International Space Station later this year for personal reasons.

"Sarah Brightman announced today that she is postponing her plans to launch aboard the upcoming Soyuz TMA-18M spaceflight mission," read a statement on Brightman's Facebook page. "Ms. Brightman said that for personal family reasons her intentions have had to change and she is postponing her cosmonaut training and flight plans at this time."

Read the complete statement here

Eric Anderson, co-founder and chairman of Space Adventures, which has brokered flights of seven other space tourists to the station on Soyuz spacecraft, said Brightman's interest in spaceflight had inspired others to pursue their dreams.

He suggested Brightman might still be considering flying at a later time.

"We've seen firsthand her dedication to every aspect of her spaceflight training and to date, has passed all of her training and medical tests," he said. "We applaud her determination and we'll continue to support her as she pursues a future spaceflight opportunity."

Brightman, 54, had been scheduled to fly in September with with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and European astronaut Andreas Mogensen as a "spaceflight participant" with the station's Expedition 45/46 crew. Brightman helped design their mission patch.

She would have returned to Earth 10 days later with Mogensen and Gennady Padalka, who is already on the station.

Brightman's announcement came a day after NASA confirmed a two-month delay in the next launch of a Soyuz crew, from this month to late July.

That mission, and another crew's return home, were postponed while Russian officials investigate the cause of a recent failed cargo mission to the station that uses a rocket similar to the one astronauts launch atop.

The ripple effect of those delays could affect the timing of all this year's remaining crew and cargo launches. Brightman did not mention the failed Progress 59 mission or safety concerns in her statement.

Brightman is the world's biggest selling soprano with more than 30 million records sold, and has performed in film and on stage over three decades, according to her Web site.

She announced her intent to fly to ISS in October 2012, committing to pay roughly $50 million for the trip, according to news reports.

Her Web site's home page today still alluded to her cosmonaut training in Star City near Moscow, about which she had posted numerous pictures.

Brightman has dreamed of flying in space ever since watching the first Apollo moon landing in 1969, according to her Web site, which said she would become the first professional musician to do so.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.