Cirque Du Soleil Founder Guy Laliberte To Perform In Space

First Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberte, who is scheduled to fly into space on Wednesday, September 30th, said he would perform in space. Laliberte, 50, made his fortune running one of the most unique entertainment ventures in the world -- Cirque du Soleil. Laliberte will be accompanied by American astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev. The trio will take off from Baikonur aboard Russian Soyuz TMA-16 rocket. The Canadian billionaire won't be bothered with conducting experiments and tests on board the space station. Instead, he will stick to his role as an entertainer.

Laliberte is an avid advocate for drinking water availability. He plans to make a special performance from space to raise awareness about the issues surrounding drinking water shortage in some parts of the world. On October 9, Laliberte's 2-hour long performance called "Moving Stars and Earth for Water" will be broadcast to 14 cities around the world, and will involve A-level celebrities, such as Shakira and U2. The show is without precedent, and one can rely on one of the top entertainers in the world to do a good job. The show will be streamed online at onedrop.org. NASA will stream the launch live at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/.

Laliberte is scheduled to spend 12 days in space, for which he paid a whopping $35 million.