Acrobat to Be Next Space Tourist

Acrobat to Be Next Space Tourist
Canadian Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, is set to become the next space tourist. (Image credit: cirquedusoleil.com)

Expect some professional flips and twists when Guy Lalibert?flies to space this fall.

The Canadian acrobat and founder of Cirque du Soleilis set to become the seventhprivate space explorer when he lifts off Sept. 30 aboard the Russian SoyuzTMA-16 spacecraft.

Lalibert? is calling his voyage the "firstsocial/humanitarian mission in space," and says he is devoting his trip toraising awareness of worldwide water issues. In 2007 he founded the non-profitOne Drop Foundation, which fights for better access to clean water for peoplearound the world.

"This is a mission that can make a difference and betrue to my personality," he said Thursday at a press conference in Moscow."We need to provide access to clean water where it is needed."

To get his point across, Lalibert? plans to carry up a poemhe co-wrote with a friend and read it from space. The piece is "a poem toplanet Earth and its inhabitants in regard to the situation with water,"he said. Lalibert? has named his mission the "Poetic Social Mission inSpace."

Lalibert?, 50, is married and has five children. He iscurrently training in Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center to preparefor his mission.

"The Russian Federal Space Agency really puts youthrough some tough tests," he said. "My main concern is to make surethat I am ready and I will not have to be babysat by my crew."

"I think this is one of the best investments anybodywill have done to promote the awareness of water," he said."Everything I will get out of that experience, I will bite in it like in ajuicy apple."

Lalibert? is part of Space Adventures' elite OrbitalMissions Explorers Circle program, which requires a $5 million deposit to join,and allows members to skip to the head of the waiting list when space touristopportunities become available.

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Clara Moskowitz
Assistant Managing Editor

Clara Moskowitz is a science and space writer who joined the Space.com team in 2008 and served as Assistant Managing Editor from 2011 to 2013. Clara has a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She covers everything from astronomy to human spaceflight and once aced a NASTAR suborbital spaceflight training program for space missions. Clara is currently Associate Editor of Scientific American. To see her latest project is, follow Clara on Twitter.