"Space Clown" Earthbound Once More

(AP)  Sporting his trademark clown's nose, a grinning Guy Laliberte gave the thumbs-up after Canada's first space tourist returned to Earth early Sunday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The founder of Cirque du soleil, along with American astronaut Michael Barratt and Russia cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, floated under a canopy of parachutes to a safe landing in Kazakhstan in central Asia.

Russian space agency officials said re-entry into the atmosphere went smoothly and the landing was nearly dead on target.

Strong winds caught the capsule's chutes, pulling it over onto its side after it touched down, but that is said to be typical of Soyuz landings on Kazakhstan's wind-blown steppe.

Russian helicopter crews were on the scene immediately to help the three men exit the spacecraft.

Russian television showed pictures of Padalka sitting outside the scorched capsule eating an apple and drinking tea.

The 50-year-old Laliberte emerged later from the cramped confines, wearing his red clown's nose as he reclined in a chair.

He appeared to be in good condition as he grinned into a TV camera.

The space travellers were then taken to an inflatable medical tent for a quick examination and to rest up while reacclimating to the Earth's gravity.

A Russian Orthodox priest was also present for the landing.

Laliberte's mother and father, Gaston and Blondine, joined about 50 family members and friends who watched the landing at the Canadian Space Agency in Longueuil, just outside Montreal.

"When we saw the red nose, we said 'He's OK,'" Gaston Laliberte told The Canadian Press in an exclusive interview.

"For me, it was a good sign that he made the descent from space correctly."

The aging Laliberte also admitted he was anxious when he arrived at the space agency to watch his son's return to Earth.

"We are more happy than we were when we arrived - less nervous," he said.

Laliberte's 80-year-old father says the next big event for him and his wife is the return of their son to Quebec on Oct. 24.

He also joked that "maybe one day Guy will say he's going to the moon - we never know with him," he added.

Before leaving orbit Laliberte hugged goodbye the six crewmembers who stayed behind on the International Space Station.

Among them is Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk who is on a six-month mission and is due to return to Earth on Dec. 1.

Padalka and Barratt had both completed six month stints on the space station.

The CSA's Benoit Marcotte says the Soyuz Laliberte travelled in is a reliable Russian vehicle that's been around for several decades and will be used more extensively in the coming years.

The U.S. space shuttles are expected to be retired in late 2010 and Marcotte says until 2015, all astronauts will use the Soyuz to commute to the space station.

But Canada will have to wait a few years before another of its astronauts visits the space station after Thirsk returns.

"It will probably take three to four years before we have a chance for a Canadian astronaut to spend six months on the orbiting space lab," Marcotte said.

Laliberte blasted into orbit with Russian Maxim Surayev and American Jeffrey Williams on Sept. 30 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Quebec billionaire arrived at the space outpost on Oct. 2 for a nine-day stay.

He spent US$35 million for his ticket to ride into space and an additional $6-10 million to produce his two-hour space extravaganza on Friday.

Orchestrating the proceedings from his perch above the Earth, Laliberte hosted a global Web and TV broadcast to promote his crusade to preserve the world's water resources.

Former U.S. vice president Al Gore, U2 and Shakira were among the entertainers and activists who participated back on Earth, performing in 14 cities on five continents.


For more info:
International Space Station Main Page (NASA)
CBS News space analyst Bill Harwood's "Space Place" updates
"Moving Stars and Earth for Water" (One Drop Foundation)
About Guy Laliberté's Poetic Social Mission in Space

[displeased]

His nose was red when he took off to space and now it is orange. That can't be a good thing.

[rwsmith29456]

Like I said before, the public has spent billions in tax dollars over the years to build and maintain a space station. I think using it for tourism when it was built for science is a doggone shame. I don't care if he did pay for his expensive ticket, WE made it possible.

[displeased]

But isn't he saving tax payers $35 million?

[stuart-johns2]

"Space Clown" Earthbound Once More

Until I read the sub-line, I thought this could have been a report about how the press dubbed Dick Cheney after last January.

[G-I_Jesus]

Just Clowning Around

Where did you get the $43 million for your trip ShowGuy?

I bet it only took two weeks from the sales of your bottled water at your Cirque du Soleil shows to pay for the "Poetic Social Mission"?

I also bet that you didn't even touch your $1.5 billion of net worth on this grand adventure, and you made more money with the charity deductions and your stakes in bottled water companies...

I bet you that when you looked out at the world from space you thought "My God, how many bottles of water do all of the oceans contain?"

Guy, just clowning around will not even stop the world from polluting and destroying our dwindling water resources.

[brianbwb-2009]

Unlike the bank CEOs, war profiteers, corporate scam artists, and politicians, He got his money the good old fashioned way, he inherited part of it, and the rest was earned by providing entertainment to literally hundreds of thousands of people who have been to see his show in several countries around the world.

No one forced people to go to the shows, and no crooked political schemes forced the people to buy water.

If he takes deductions for charitable contributions, that is better than not making any contributions, I am sure those who received his charity are not complaining, why are you?

He may very well have wondered for a minute how many bottles of water the oceans contained, but like most educated people, knowing that it is all salt water, and in it's necessary place, made it a fleeting thought, if at all.

The world will indeed continue to pollute, as we have not evolved to recognize that, as big as it may seem from the ground, our resources are still finite.

At the very least, Mr. Laliberte drew the attention of millions to the subject, all too forgotten nowadays, and that is better than continuing to ignore the problem altogether.

He could have simply enjoyed the microgravity, and the unfiltered view of the stars by himself, but he chose to make a valid and important point while he was in orbit, and if it was only a "drop in the ocean" in the direction of a positive future, then it is one drop more than before.

Even all of his $1.5 billion won't stop that, so what is really your point?

[John_Merritt]

The question I have for Guy is "Did you feel as funny and free in space as you do on earth?" The reason why I ask that is the psychology of any person may change one way or another, ever so slightly, in a closed and confined environment and space is a incubator for those feelings and emotions. Congratulations Guy I hope you got your monies worth, you made it entertaining for all of us.

[brianbwb-2009]

I doubt the confined space mattered, very much like one's car doesn't matter, it is the trip that is all. When I fly to places, I still keep my face almost glued to the window, the sights make me unaware of the winged bottle I am in.

The microgravity is, going by the remarks of those who have experienced it, extremely liberating. Stephen Hawking loved the sensation, as did most every astronaut that has experienced it, other than the very small percentage that got motion sick. Not being the motion sick type, I wish I had the bux to take such a journey.

I would think that the return to normal g is what is depressing, the pull of the earth is, according to accounts, something you are never aware of, until you experience, then return from microgravity, then you feel it even to the tips of your fingers.