Sarah Brightman Drops Out of Space Tourism Flight to ISS
Satoshi_Takamatsu and Sarah Brightman (far right) meet the media. (Credit: Roscosmos)
British soprano Sarah Brightman has dropped out of a planned trip this fall to the International Space Station citing ” for personal family reasons.” A post on the singer’s website did not elaborate on those reasons.
The announcement comes only weeks after press reports said Brightman would be replaced by her backup, Japanese businessman Satoshi Takamatsu, because she would not be ready in time for the flight. Those reports were denied at the time.
Brightman’s announcement describes the decision as a postponement, indicating that she could fly at a future time aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Because the Soyuz is the only transport system serving the six-person station, there will probably not be another opportunity until 2017 or 2018 when U.S. commercial providers Boeing and SpaceX begin transporting astronauts to ISS.
A Soyuz seat is open this year because a U.S. astronaut and Russian cosmonaut are spending almost one year aboard the station instead of returning to Earth after five to six months. Each three-seat Soyuz spacecraft must be rotated off the ISS every six months.
8 responses to “Sarah Brightman Drops Out of Space Tourism Flight to ISS”
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What happens if we build a space tourism industry and no one comes? Or, what if the bar to ride these rockets is basically set at “test pilot” levels? What if the level of ability to just be a PASSENGER is INTRINSICALLY at superhuman levels? Are we going to disqualify many of the very people who love space?
As with all adventure travel the numbers will be restricted by health requirements and the quality of the experience provided and will not be as large as many advocates believe they will be, especially with the prime market, aging baby boomers remembering the glories of Project Apollo, rapidly getting too old.
Its because of the intrinsic weakness of space tourism that I have argued since the 1990’s the Science, Education and Research (SER) markets have so much more potential.It is good to see suborbital firms like EXOS are starting to focus on them for their first early revenue stages.
http://www.exosaero.com/home
I also expect SER markets will be what makes XCOR and Blue Origins successful.
This of course was another of the weakness of the Ansari X- Prize, focusing attention on the most difficult, and likely least profitable, market to serve.
I prefer “Science, Security and Economy” (a modification to John Marburger’s statements) as the reason we do our space activities, but I certainly see your point.
Space ain’t what it used to be!
Jeff, Those may apply to government space, but we are talking about space commerce and revenue sources.
So many what its.
I would not sweat it.
When it comes to private space, most companies are counting on foreign govs and companies to book most seats.
Hopefully, she and others will jump onboard spacex or Boeing to a Bigelow space station.
She was probably shamed into spending that money on something besides trying to prove the world revolves around her.
The display of infinite narcissism required for a space vacation will eventually bring on such embarrassment that no person will even hint at wanting to go without suffering public humiliation.
Excuse me? What is narsisstic in wanting mankind to go space?