Sarah Brightman prepares for ISS visit

British singer Sarah Brightman has arrived in Russia to start preparing for her journey to the International Space Station.

"Brightman has returned to Moscow and has started preparations for the space flight," the head of Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, Yury Lonchakov, said on Monday.

"The preparations are in line with the schedule," he told TASS.

Last week, sources in the aerospace field reported that Brightman, who plans to fly to ISS later this year, had postponed her trip to Russia, initially scheduled for January 15, for personal reasons.

Earlier, a spokesman for Russia's space agency Roscosmos said Brightman had left Moscow and flown to Britain to visit her ill mother.

Preparations should last six months, forcing the singer to live permanently at the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which would mean a temporary break from her musical career.

If all preparations develop as planned, Brightman would be the eighth tourist to visit the ISS, and the first since 2009, when Canadian businessman Guy Laliberte visited in a $US50 million flight.