Madonna denied blast-off in '08
(E!online)
2006-09-14 09:56
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It looks as if the Material Girl isn't going to be leaving this material world anytime soon.
Russia's Duma legislative body nixed the idea of sending Madonna into space in 2008, a notion brought forth by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Alexei Mitrofanov after the 48-year-old hitmaker supposedly said during her tour stop in Moscow this week that she would like to visit the International Space Station.
"It would be a serious event, considering the TV coverage and the fact that it will coincide with [presidential] elections in the United States and Russia," Mitrofanov, who proposed that an official inquiry be sent to the Russian Federal Space Agency, told the information service RIA Novosti.Space agency spokesman Igor Panarin explained that there were no seats available on the Soyuz spacecraft until 2009.
"Taking into account her good physical preparedness and financial capabilities, the dream of [Madonna] Louise Ciccone on a space flight could be realized in 2009," Panarin said, using most of the "Like a Virgin" singer's full name--but not all, perhaps acknowledging the objections some of his countrymen have to her onstage biblical imagery. "The pop star calling herself Madonna is abusing the Cross," Valentin Lebedev, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens, said during a protest in central Moscow last week.
So maybe there will be some vogue-ing at zero gravity at a later date. (And maybe Lance Bass will be able to pony up enough cash by then.) The first female space tourist, Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari, reportedly paid $20 million for the privilege to leave Earth Sept. 18. Three other individuals are said to have paid similar prices for a 10-day jaunt above-and-beyond the globe.
Madonna, who's well on her way to having the highest grossing tour ever for a female music artist, hasn't really needed to leave the planet to have out of this world success, however.
She performed in front of approximately 50,000 fans Tuesday night at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium and, despite the opposition mounting in recent weeks over the mock-crucifixion she has staged at the end of each of her performances on the Confessions tour, disruptions were at a minimum.
According to authorities, a total of 23 people--some intoxicated--were detained and only seven of them had been trying to protest the shenanigans going on inside the stadium. More than 7,000 police officers were on duty throughout the evening, including 45 dog handlers and 600 riot cops.
This was Madonna's first concert in Russia. Next it's off to Osaka and Tokyo to see what sort of religious ire the pop icon can stir up in Asia.