Published: 2 June, 2009, 19:57
Edited: 2 June, 2009, 19:57
Various Russian and international sources claim that founder and CEO of the famous Canadian Cirque du Soleil will fly to the ISS abroad Soyuz the TMA-16 space shuttle. The shuttle is due to launch in September.
The official announcement is expected on Thursday, June 4.
After the March launch of Soyuz, which saw the second flight of Charles Simonyi into orbit, it was announced that he would be the final space tourist for some time as all missions to the ISS for the next few years had been assigned to professionals.
However, a Kazakh cosmonaut was removed from the Soyuz TMA-16 program due to a lack of funding. Kazakhstan was among the countries badly affected by the global crisis.
That left the third seat in the shuttle vacant. And Space Adventures company, which arranges for space tourism, reported finding a matching candidate in Canada.
Reports suggest that this candidate is 46-year-old Guy Laliberté, founder and CEO of the most famous circus show on the planet, Cirque du Soleil. Laliberté, once an accordion player and fire-breather, founded his circus in 1984.
Laliberté reportedly made a fortune when his circus was invited to Las Vegas in 1991. He is now #562 on the Forbes billionaires’ list, with a fortune valued at $1.4 billion.
Laliberté, who is involved in charity activities, has long dreamed of traveling into space.
It is unclear what kind of sum Laliberté will have to pay out. Simonyi paid some $35 million, while NASA spends some $51 million for American astronauts. However, the latter sum includes a longer preparation programme and rehabilitation period.