9 thoughts on “Sarah Brightman’s Space Travel”

  1. I hope she makes it. Both Lance Bass and John Denver were in serious training to go into space, and NASA pretty much did everything they could to prevent it.

    1. That’s an urban legend.

      John Denver wanted to fly on the Space Shuttle, but NASA never had a program to fly singers in space (although, it did give some consideration to the idea).

      Lance Bass, on the other hand, had nothing to do with NASA. He was going to fly on Soyuz until he went to Russia for the training and found out it wasn’t the amusement park ride he was expecting.

      1. “He had been due to resume training at the Star City space center outside Moscow when the final Russian pronouncement was made.

        Bass could not be reached for comment because he reportedly returned in a huff to his posh central Moscow hotel after Russia’s space center delivered its verdict.

        He later checked out of the hotel without speaking to reporters.

        Russia not only accused Bass of failing to honor his contract but also expressed regret that they ever got involved with the star, having picked his candidacy over less glamorous but far richer candidates who could have actually coughed up the cash.

        “This is our final decision and is not subject to change,” Russian Space Agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov told AFP.

        “We bet on Bass, turned down other candidates,” Gorbunov separately told ITAR-TASS news agency.

        “Now even if Bass paid us 40 million dollars rather that the 20 million that he owes, this flight could still not take place. He cannot possibly prepare for the voyage in two months.”

        Bass has been in training for three months in a bid to become the first entertainer in space, following in the tracks of two other space tourists, US businessman Dennis Tito and South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth.

        Russian officials and the singer’s backers have been haggling over payment deadlines for the fare for weeks, with the singer’s handlers accusing the Russians of getting bogged down in red tape.”

        http://www.spacedaily.com/news/tourism-02n.html

        I thought Bass could not raise the money?

        1. Pepsi was going to sponsor him. NASA got in the way, and was the reason for his delays in training.

  3. Music and other arts are an essential part of human culture, and any expansion into space that excludes them is likely not to have much of a future in the long term. However, personally I think the way to go here is that of amateurism, that is people already there for other reasons using part of their spare time for artistic pursuits. Chris Hadfield, he of “Space Oddity” fame, was a good example of this.

    NASA’s opposition to such things is, in my view, evidence for the theory that the function of NASA is not to promote space exploitation but to prevent it. Why? Because it reduces control from the centre. When (and if!) there are large numbers of people in space with their own resource infrastructure, they are likely to tell Earthly bureaucrats to pound sand. And they are likely to succeed, too; “Moon is a Harsh Mistress” is a great explanation of why.

    So it’s quite likely that the primary function of NASA (apart from creating pork) is that of preserving the American hegemony.

    1. All,

      Let me add to what Fletcher just said.

      First, let me put in a link to my art. My Science Fiction Art has drawn much favorable attention at Washington, DC’s Artomatic. It has been exhibited at the DC gallery of International Arts and Artists.

      I worked in a tech position at Goddard Space Flight Center from 1990 through part of 1999. I was driven out by really bad “management.”

      I have been given awards by NSS (and, before that, L5) for my volunteer work. I have even been given awards by AIAA for volunteer work for them.

      Am I now on the inside of NASA again, helping with problems like those shown in the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s report?

      No.

      Why?

      I favor open, honest, democratic reform of a field that is far too authoritarian for its own good. Treating your workers with real respect and allowing them to have good lives actually works better than letting abusive bullies run wild in leadership positions.

      I wonder if being a thoughtful artist as well as a geek might have something to do with that.

  4. Alas, we’ve become a pessimistic species… human curiosity itself is dying.

    A mars colony, with individuals pursuing their own dreams, is part of the cure. We turn inward and die w/o frontiers. The state involvement, at every level, in our lives astounds me today and will only get worse.

    Good for her.

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