Christine Daae is now a space tourist. Sarah Brightman, renowned global singer and the original star of The Phantom of the Opera, has purchased a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft headed towards the International Space Station. Brightman paid more than $51 million (!) for her ticket to the stratosphere.
ABC News reports that Brightman will hop onboard a shuttle sometime in 2014 or 2015, and that her hefty price tag was enough to oust a NASA astronaut from a seat on the craft. (NASA sends at least one astronaut a year to the station via Russian transport.)
Since 2001, only seven tourists have flown into the stars via U.S. agency Space Adventures. Prices for the space tourism business have ranged from $22 million to $35 million.
Safe travels, Sarah, but just one reminder for the soon-to-be cosmic Broadway star: in space, no one can hear your aria!