Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Circus tycoon clowns around after space docking
Fri Oct 2, 2009 9:26am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Aydar Buribayev
KOROLYOV, Russia (Reuters) - Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte, dubbed the first clown in space, arrived at the International Space Station in a Russian space craft on Friday on a 10-day trip that cost over $35 million.
Laliberte, a former fire-breather and founder of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, donned a red clown's nose and waved to his wife and children in a video link-up from the space station to mission control in the town of Korolyov near Moscow.
"I'm adapting pretty good ... but I ain't staying six months," he said to laughter from his colleagues who will each spend several months onboard the cramped outpost.
Laliberte plans to use the trip to draw attention to the importance of access to clean water on Earth and is due to hold a two-hour webcast on October 9 featuring former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Irish rock group U2 and others.
The 50-year-old is worth an estimated $2.5 billion, having turned a passion for acrobatics and circus acts into a global entertainment empire.
He paid more than $35 million for the privilege of becoming Earth's seventh space tourist, blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
A camera on board the Soyuz module showed grainy black and white pictures of the space station slowly coming into view on a giant screen at mission control. "We have contact," a Russian official said, prompting applause from watching relatives.
Laliberte climbed through the hatch into the space station with the Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronaut who accompanied him. They took turns embracing the six-man station crew before lining up to talk to relatives via a video link.
Laliberte is due to return to earth on October 10.
SPACE TOURISM IN DOUBT
The expansion of the station's resident crew from three to six has reduced the number of available seats for would-be tourists on scheduled Soyuz rocket flights.
Space Adventures, the company which markets the flights, says it does not know when the Russian space agency will next have a free seat to take a space tourist.
Russia has borne the brunt of sending crews and cargo to the multinational station since the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry in 2003, killing its crew of seven.
The Soyuz workload will increase further with the expected retirement of U.S. space agency NASA's shuttle fleet in late 2010 or early 2011.
Russia will stop offering tourist flights to the space station if the United States halts shuttle flights in 2011, the head of Russia's Roskosmos space agency, Anatoly Perminov, said at a press conference after the docking. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
FACTBOX: Foreign aid for Indonesia quake
Also On Reuters
Slideshow
Slideshow: Pictures of the month: September
Support for abortion rights falls in U.S.
Analysis: In Iran, concerns of another Iraq
More Entertainment News
David Letterman victim of $2 million extortion over affairs
Kanye West and Lady Gaga's North American tour cancelled
"Transformers 3" confirmed for 2011
"Zombieland" looks to kill at the box office
Amos Oz heads field of Nobel literature candidates
More Entertainment News...
More News
Canadian circus tycoon makes journey into space
Wednesday, 30 Sep 2009 09:56am EDT
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
No special treatment for Polanski: Schwarzenegger
Half of babies born in rich world will live to 100
David Letterman victim of $2 million extortion over affairs
"Super typhoon" bears down on flood-ravaged Philippines
Kanye West and Lady Gaga's North American tour cancelled
Q+A: What's behind Geneva agreement on Iran's enriched uranium?
President and First Lady back Chicago 2016 bid | Video
Olympics-Rio makes impassioned pitch for first S.American Games
Court to hear gay divorce in Texas, despite gay marriage ban
Super typhoon bears down on flood-ravaged Philippines
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Lobbying for the 2016 Olympics
Cities plead the 2016 Olympics case
Toyota president regrets U.S. deaths
Bernanke: oversight should be shared
Sony's next play from PSP to 3D TV
Frantic search as toll hits 1000
China parade marks anniversary
Olympic bid: Obamas for Chicago
Water dogs make a big splash in UK
Iran's Mottaki says ready to engage
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.