While the singer did not disclose the price tag for the trip, the ninth so far brokered by U.S. firm Space Adventures, it is expected to be upward of $35 million. Russia charges NASA astronauts more than $50 million per seat.

The adventure package includes 12 days in orbit. Brightman said she would use her mission to promote education for women in the sciences and raise environmental awareness.

The star, famous for starring in the musical “Phantom of the Opera”, sang her about enthusiasm for space in thigh-high boots and a sequined leotard in her 1970s hit “I Lost my Heart to a Starship Trooper”.

She has already booked a ride on Virgin Galactic’s planned suborbital SpaceShipTwo vehicle.

“As a child of the 60s, with all the rockets they were sending up and the first man on the moon - space was very much in the child’s understanding,” she told Reuters.

“When I understood that it was possible even to take a suborbital flight suddenly it was: ‘Yes, that is what I have always wanted to do. This is my dream!’”

She said she passed the rigorous pre-flight test at Russia’s Star City training centre outside Moscow “with flying colours”.

INDUSTRY SET TO TAKE OFF