MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. British singer Sarah Brightman who is undergoing training near Moscow ahead of a September ten-day space journey said on Thursday she had started understanding the Russian language.

"I’m starting to get an understanding of the Russian language," Brightman said in an interview with TASS.

The singer said she had to learn many specific space acronyms, which were "taking precedence over normal conversation with people."

"But I am sure by the time my training is over I will be much freer in this area and have a good basic knowledge," she said.

The singer earlier said the music by great Russian composer Sergey Rachmaninoff helped her learn Russian, which is included in her pre-flight programme.

Brightman said she had been learning Russian for two months only and expressed hope her skills would improve by September.

When the singer reaches the ISS, she will become the eighth space tourist in the world paying around $52 million for the journey.

Brightman wants her space song to carry beautiful message

Brightman said she wants to perform a simple song with a beautiful message from the International Space Station (ISS).

"I do understand there are complexities to this. I am working with various people at the moment," Brightman said in an interview with TASS. "We are working on something that’s very simple and has a beautiful message."

"And I hope we can achieve what we promise," she added without disclosing the name of the song she was planning to sing.

Brightman said earlier she was trying to find "a song that suits the idea of space."

The Phantom of the Opera star also said she has not yet selected a mascot that she would take on board the ISS.

"I am thinking about what that may be. I have a few months to find something that is special enought to take as a lucky mascot," the singer said.

No fear of pre-flight training difficulties

The singer said she is not afraid of difficulties of the pre-flight training.

"I have been in the centrifuge and I’ve been taken up to 8g. G forces are not unusual to me because when I was younger I did some Harrier jump jet training," Brightman told TASS correspondents.

"I am not concerned or scared in any way because the people that I am working with, the professors in Star City, all the cosmonauts, astronauts - they all have families, they have children, they have loved ones. They are doing what they do and they love it and they have a passion for it. And that in itself makes me feel very safe. I am working with extremely experienced people," she said.

Brightman acknowledged that that she faces some difficulties when adjusting to the Soyuz spacecraft.

"But what is making me understand as a human being that I am capable of many things (all of us are) and if we are given the right training we are all capable of things that we couldn’t believe that we are," the singer said.

"So for me this is an incredibly positive journey, and I am passing my tests, and I seem to be passing them very well and everybody seems to be very pleased with my progress," she added.

Brightman careless about her looks while training at Russian space center

The future space tourist does not care about her looks while training for 15 to 16 hours a day to get ready for a flight to the International Space Station.

Brightman said she was focused on her practising in Star City near Moscow.

"The fun part of this is actually when I am in training, I am so focused on what I am doing. I don’t care how my hair looks, I don’t care if I’ve got makeup on or not," the space tourist said. "It is about what one is achieving within the programme and the learning of it and working among such amazing people - professors, and other cosmonauts and astronauts. That side of staying beautiful, as you say, I think at that point beauty comes within and it doesn’t really matter what you look like from the outside."

Brightman liked Star City’s quietness. "So I am able to work for 15-16 hours a day uninterrupted which is a complete blessing for me," she said. "And I have everything I need there. Even at weekends I don’t really come out of Star City - it is complete for what is needed for the situation."

Also, the singer found her living conditions comfortable.

"I am not at Star City for holiday, I am there to work," she said. "A very complex and beautiful system."

"I am very, very comfortable in Star City. And everybody is in the same living conditions. And it’s great because it’s very quiet there and I’m able to focus on my work," she said. "I feel very honoured and I feel very privileged and lucky to be a space flight participant in the Russian programme and to be accepted and to be going up there."

Brightman's flight is scheduled for September 1-11, 2015. She will be accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

When the singer reaches the ISS, she will become the eighth space tourist in the world paying around $52 million for the journey.