Clown rides rocket to greatest show off Earth

Billionaire plans to present a gala from orbit ... and tickle his crewmates

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - Billionaire entertainer Guy Laliberte rocketed into space in a Russian Soyuz craft on Wednesday, heading for the world's highest stage.

The Cirque du Soleil founder, along with two professional astronauts from Russia and the United States, lifted off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the International Space Station. Laliberte flashed a thumbs-up sign during the ascent to orbit.

Laliberte, the world's first "space clown," was cheered by supporters wearing red clown noses when he and his Soyuz crewmates arrived at the launch pad. Canadian Laliberte, NASA's Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev sang the pop song "Mammy Blue" as they climbed into their capsule.

Among those cheering were Laliberte's wife, former model Claudia Barilla, and Quebec singing star Garou.

The Soyuz is due to dock with the space station on Friday.

During Tuesday's buildup to the launch, Laliberte joked that he would tickle fellow astronauts while they sleep on the station. But the impish billionaire, who also plans to hand out his trademark clown noses to the crew, told reporters that his $35 million excursion into orbit has a serious purpose: promoting awareness of the world's growing shortage of clean water.

The 50-year-old Canadian tycoon plans a global broadcast from the space station Oct. 9 to promote his One Drop Foundation, which focuses attention on the state of the globe's water resources. Former Vice President Al Gore and Colombian pop star Shakira are among the activists and celebrities expected to contribute to the broadcast, to be shown on the foundation's Web site.

The performance "will be a poem that will be read to the population on Earth in 14 different cities, across five continents," Laliberte said.

"When I first started Cirque du Soleil, I dreamed of seeing all 6 billion people on the planet wearing that little red nose, which for me is symbolic of happiness," he said. "After 25 years, I realize it is not just a question of a clown nose, it is a question of having a glass of clean water every day."

He told reporters he had been tickling his fellow astronauts during training, and planned to tickle them in their sleep aboard the space station as well.

"I'm going there with my sense of humor and my belief that even if sometimes in life we have to do hard work, there is always room to keep humor present," he said.

Laliberte's stay on the space station is scheduled to last nine days. He'll return to Earth with Russia's Gennady Padalka and NASA's Michael Barratt, who have been on the space station since March.

Surayev and Williams are due to stay on the station until next March, and Williams will take over as commander of the orbiting lab in November.

The coming months will be busy, Surayev said, with the planned arrival of three delivery craft and two U.S. shuttles, as well as around 50 experiments planned.

Recent missions have expanded the space station's capacity, allowing for a permanent population of six. Departure of the current occupants over the next few months, however, will leave Surayev and Williams as the only crew for around three weeks at the end of this year.

"It's a huge station, we're probably going to be losing each other all the time," Williams joked.

© 2009 msnbc.com