BRITISH singer Sarah Brightman has started a gruelling 72-hour survival course in a snowy Russian forest to train for her upcoming role as a space tourist, Russia’s cosmonaut training center said Jan. 23.

    The soprano, known for her starring roles in West End musicals composed by ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber, is due to spend 10 days in space in September after paying US$52 million to become the eighth space tourist in a flight arranged by U.S. firm Space Adventures.

    This month she began training at the legendary Gagarin cosmonaut training center in Star City outside Moscow. In pictures of the survival course released by the training center, Brightman is shown in a snowy forest of fir trees, lashing tree trunks together to make a shelter while wearing waterproof jacket and trousers and a winter hat.

    Brightman, 54, is in training with cosmonauts and astronauts from NASA, the Russian space agency and the Japanese space agency, as well as with a Japanese businessman who will take over as her replacement on the space flight if she has to drop out.

    At a briefing Monday at the cosmonaut training center, the “Starship Trooper” singer said, “I would like to say how proud and honored and excited I am to be part of the Russian space program and to be a cosmonaut in training.”

    On the survival course Brightman has to spend 72 hours outside and construct a wigwam shelter using branches and a parachute, while knee-deep in snow. (SD-Agencies)