LONDON (AP) - British singer Sarah Brightman said she is working with ex-husband Andrew Lloyd-Webber to create a song she will perform from space when she blasts off to the International Space Station later this year.
The 54-year-old soprano, known to many for her duet with tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time to Say Goodbye," told reporters she felt "overwhelmed" and excited as she prepares for the tourist flight in a Russian Soyuz rocket.
"I would like to sing something from space," she said. "We're trying to work out all the technical details, obviously it's quite a complex thing to do."
She added she and Lloyd-Webber are working to find a song that "suits the idea of space" while scientists iron out the technical side of how to make the performance work. She also said she would like to perform together with a choir or another singer on Earth.
"I'm trying to find a piece which is beautiful and simple in its message, as well as not too complicated to sing," she said.
Brightman is set to be the first professional musician to travel to and perform from space. She said she could not disclose the cost of the trip - reportedly $52.8 million - but maintained that she is paying for it out of her own pocket.
The journey, arranged by private space flight company Space Adventures, is planned on Sept. 1. Brightman will be part of a three-person team and will spend 10 days aboard the International Space Station.
Brightman, who first announced her space plans in 2012, said she began physical and mental training in January in Star City near Moscow. Her routine includes spending hours every day learning Russian, getting to grips with all the equipment, and training in high g-force launch simulators.
"It feels like you've got an elephant on your chest, that's the only way I can explain it when you're in centrifuge," she said.
The singer may be an unlikely cosmonaut, but she said she had wanted to go to space since she watched the first moon landing in 1969 as a 9-year-old.