SKIRMISHER

Billionaire clown Guy Laliberte, founder of the globally famous Cirque du Soleil, is aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule headed for the Space Station to promote awareness of the planet’s water shortage problems.

“I am not a scientist, I’m not a doctor, I’m not an engineer,” he said. “I’m an organizer, a showman, and a creator – I have an entertaining personality, so that is really what I am bringing here.”

Laliberte has promised to bring each crew member of the International Space Station a clown nose to wear, but plans to take two along for himself: one red, one yellow – “the yellow one I will wear when I am a little grumpy, and the red one I will wear when I am happy and joyful.”

Laliberte, 50, started as a street performer and rose to an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion after founding the innovative and globally popular Cirque du Soleil. The trip to the International Space Station is costing him $35 million.

He sees the expenditure in part as an effective marketing opportunity.

“I am the type of person who is always trying to maximize an investment, and this is the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil, which will be a celebration for us,” he said.

But along with that, Laliberte also aims to use the trip to promote awareness of world water supply problems.

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