British singer Sarah Brightman heads to Russia this week to begin training to fly to the International Space Station, Russias ITAR-TASS news service reports.

The 54-year-old soprano announced in 2012 that she intended to fly as a spaceflight participant to the station, a research laboratory that orbits about 260 miles above Earth.

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Her rocket ride aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket and 10-day stay on the orbital outpost is estimated to cost $52 million. Virginia-based Space Adventures is arranging the trip.

Brightman will become the seventh paying tourist to visit the station. The last non-astronaut to make the trip was Cirque du Soleil founder and chief executive Guy Laliberte in September 2009. Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi has paid for two visits to the station.

Brightman was scheduled to arrive in Russia on Wednesday and begin training in Star City on Thursday, TASS reports.

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She is expected to launch into orbit on Sept 1 with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

A Japanese businessman, Satoshi Takamatsu, 51, will train with Brightman and fly if she is unable to do so, TASS said.

Brightman, who starred in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Phantom of the Opera, released her 11th solo album in 2013. She said she intends to sing in space.

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Singer Sarah Brightman to Begin Training for Space Flight