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The recent spate of gimmick-loving millionaires coughing up considerable amounts of cash to become space tourists could be described as the ultimate form of big boys clowning around.
Yet another space tourist with money to burn. Image: _gee_/Flickr.
Extended said trend, the founder and 95 percent share holder of global circus phenomenon Cirque du Soleil has paid through his spongy red nose to step into some astronaut-shaped clown shoes and head off towards the stars.
Having successfully blasted clear of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the company of NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev, cash-happy Canadian philanthropist Guy Laliberte is presently heading for the International Space Station (ISS).
Sitting in a Soyuz TMA-16 capsule atop a mighty Soyuz-FG rocket – and light in the pocket to the tune of $35 million USD – circus tycoon Laliberte began his tourist jaunt to the ISS on Wednesday, September 30, as a silent participant of the 21st mission to the orbiting science platform.
50-year-old Laliberte is scheduled to return from the International Space Station in 12 days, and is unlikely to even notice the sudden chunk missing from his bank account thanks to an estimated personal wealth of some $2.5 billion USD.
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