The Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil has purchased a ticket to space, and will be dropping in to visit Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk at the International Space Station.
"This is the opportunity of a lifetime. This is a privilege I have. I am very happy and proud to have joined an amazing team that I am travelling with in order to achieve a great social mission," Guy Laliberte told Â鶹´«Ã½net Thursday.
Laliberte, the billionaire who founded the world-renowned circus troupe, will head to space on Sept. 30 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. He said he will reveal the details of his "poetic social mission" a few weeks after his arrival.
His mission consists of preparing a poem with a Canadian poet to take into space and read to the world, he said.
"At a certain point in my mission, I will deliver in an artistic way to the citizens of planet Earth this poem," he said.
He reportedly paid about $35 million for his seat on the spacecraft, which will make him Canada's first space tourist.
Laliberte confirmed he would be going to space at a Thursday morning news conference in Moscow, Russia, where he is undergoing pre-flight training.
"Today I am introduced as a space explorer. I am very excited and I am very touched," Laliberte said at a news conference.
The 49-year-old former fire-eating busker will travel with a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut on the trip. They are scheduled to spend 12 days at the ISS.
Laliberte's physical preparation started a month ago beginning with two weeks of physical and medical tests.
For the last two weeks he has been practising languages and doing more physical training.
Finally, he will go through 15 days of quarantine before the launch.
He said he is completing his training in one of the shortest amounts of times for an individual travelling to space.
Still, his nerves aren't getting the best of him.
"I have no fear. When you decide such things, your responsibility is to evaluate danger. Fear is back there. You leave it behind you," he said. "Then you prepare yourself mentally, physically and emotionally to go through that because this is a serious trip. It's not like buying a ticket to go to the beach of Hawaii."
Laliberte said he has been fascinated with space travel since he was a child and looks forward to living out his dream.
He called the mission the "first poetic social mission in space" by a private explorer, describing himself as an artist and creator with a social conscience.
Part of the purpose of the mission, he said, is to raise awareness about global water issues. Laliberte's One Drop Foundation has the goal of making safe, clean water available around the world.
"The main motivation for me now is to make this a unique project based on humanitarian values, to reflect what I am, which why I chose to do this project," Laliberte said, speaking in French.
