Space Adventures' Announces Founder of Cirque de Soleil Guy Laliberte Returned to Earth after Completing First Poetic Social Mission in Space

While on orbit, Laliberte orchestrated world wide event to raise awareness of water-related issues

October 11 2009

Space Adventures, Ltd., the only company currently providing human space mission opportunities to the world marketplace, today announced that its client Guy Laliberte and his crew successfully landed in the Kazakhstan steppes after a visit to the International Space Station (ISS). Laliberte returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft with Expedition 20 crewmembers Gennady Padalka and Michael Barratt, who both spent six months aboard the orbiting outpost.

During his 10-day stay at the ISS, Mr. Laliberte shared information about water issues through an artistic and poetic mission, themed "Moving Stars and Earth for Water." The event took place on October 9 in 14 cities around the world.

"We are tremendously proud of Guy for using his skills as a creator and artist to raise awareness for the important issue of sustainable water on Earth," said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. "Guy turned his ideas into reality through this project. We congratulate him."

Central to the mission was a poem written by Canadian author Yann Martel. The tale was delivered piece by piece, from one destination at a time. The event is available as a re-broadcast via www.onedrop.org. NASA Television is also re-airing the entire broadcast on October 11 and 12. For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, please visit www.nasa.gov/ntv.

About Guy Laliberté

Guy Laliberte was born in Quebec City in 1959. An accordionist, stilt-walker and fire-breather, he founded Quebec's first internationally renowned circus with the support of a small group of accomplices. A bold visionary, Mr. Laliberte recognized and cultivated the talents of the street performers from the Fete foraine de Baie-Saint-Paul and created Cirque du Soleil in 1984.

Since the very beginnings of Cirque du Soleil, Mr. Laliberte has insisted on having a social approach as part of the development of the company. Keenly aware that Cirque could play a role as agent of change, over 15 years ago, he created Cirque du Monde, an arts education program for street kids all over the world. He also chose to set up the International Headquarters and creative studios of Cirque du Soleil in the St. Michel district of Montreal, one of the poorest neighborhoods in North America, to stimulate a sense of local pride and ensure the revitalization of the area through artistic stimulation. This paved the way to TOHU, Cite des arts du Cirque, a project he initiated in the same neighborhood. Since early on he has also dedicated 1% of all revenues generated by Cirque du Soleil to social and cultural programs worldwide.

Mr. Laliberte was the first to orchestrate the marriage of cultures and artistic and acrobatic disciplines that is the hallmark of Cirque du Soleil. Since 1984, he has guided the creative team through the creation of every show and contributed to elevating the circus arts to the level of the great artistic disciplines.

In October 2007, Mr. Laliberte entered into a second lifetime commitment by creating the ONE DROP Foundation to fight poverty around the world by providing sustainable access to safe water. This new initiative stems from the knowledge that the right to water is key to the survival of individuals and communities all over the world. It is inspired by the values which have been at the heart of Cirque du Soleil since its inception: the belief that life gives back what you have given and even the smallest gesture will make a difference. For more information, please visit www.onedrop.org.

About Space Adventures

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world's first private space explorers, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. In 2012, Space Adventures plans to launch the first private mission to the ISS. This private spaceflight will be a fully dedicated mission of the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft with two seats available, along with a comprehensive package of services including science, education and media program options. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev. 

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