Billionaire clown heads for space station

[cali]

By PETER LEONARD (AP) – 27 minutes ago

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — A Canadian circus tycoon, an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off in a spacecraft from the Kazakh steppe Wednesday on a journey to the International Space Station.

Minutes after lifting off from the Baikonur launch facility, the Soyuz capsule shed its rocket stages and entered orbit. On board were Cirque du Soleil founder and space tourist Guy Laliberte along with crew members Jeffrey Williams and Maxim Surayev.

Friends and family on the ground cheered and hugged one another when an announcement that the ship was in orbit came over the loudspeaker. They chanted "Guy! Guy!" and broke out singing Elton John's "Rocket Man."

Laliberte, dubbed the first clown in space, had donned a bulbous red nose and blew kisses to supporters before the launch. He has paid $35 million for the trip he plans to use to publicize the world's growing shortage of clean water.

"I'm very happy for him. It's amazing," said Laliberte's partner, former model Claudia Barilla, tears streaming down her face as she cradled her young son in her arms. "Now we know he's up there."

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikuDNRgZZT7naYDJdZZ7kdEsDJjQD9B1IRFO1

[madokie]

1. For some reason this made me smile

I think it was the reason, where he said it is to raise the awareness of the worlds shortage of clean water or maybe it was the fact the man is a clown, I don't know. Clowns are special people, if you ask me, as they are born and not made or the ones I've known that's been the case.

[cali]

2. yeah, it made me smile too. partly it was his wearing a clown nose

[rfranklin]

3. Billionaire clown...I thouight they meant Donald Trump was in space....

my second thought was Rupert Murdoch.

[madokie]

4. No neither of those guys could ever be mistaken for a real Clown

even though they are seen, and rightly so, as clowns by many. Big difference though in the two, a Clown or being a clown. You see Clowns have a heart that is bigger than their noses or their shoes, trump or murdock have no heart at all, they're just one big assholes each.

[TexasObserver]

5. He takes his place among John Gacy and Ronald McDonald as clown icons.

Clowns! Nothing says 19th century like them. The big nose. The floppy shoes. It doesn't get any funnier than that. And let's not forget that the clown suit is the favorite uniform of pervs everywhere.

What next? The first MIME in space?

[cali]

12. perhaps you could consider educating yourself about Laliberte.

He's hardly comparable to Gacy- or Ronald McDonald.

[TexasObserver]

13. When I need your advice, I'll ask for it.

[cali]

14. too bad you can't stop me from saying precisely what I wish to say

and in this case, I'm saying that your introduction of Gacy into the thread was a shining example of teh stupid.

[TexasObserver]

15. I know. You're the Clown advocate here.

And you represent them well.

[cali]

17. ooh, what a jab

that just really deflated me, honey.

:rofl:

I'm amused by clowns.

[customerserviceguy]

6. First clown in space?

Only if you ignore "barfin' Jake" Garn.

Here's a quote from Dr. Robert Stevenson of the Johnson Space Center:

"Jake Garn was sick, was pretty sick. I don't know whether we should tell stories like that. But anyway, Jake Garn, he has made a mark in the Astronaut Corps because he represents the maximum level of space sickness that anyone can ever attain, and so the mark of being totally sick and totally incompetent is one Garn. Most guys will get maybe to a tenth Garn, if that high. And within the Astronaut Corps, he forever will be remembered by that."

[Stevenmarc]

7. He will be reentering by sliding down a very long strip of silk

[L. Coyote]

8. The atmosphere be damned.

Who needs clean air anyway, cuz we are all going to move to space, right? :rofl:

[cali]

11. what? are you actually suggesting that this flight is significant in

contributing to air pollution?

[L. Coyote]

18. I'm suggesting billionaires should not be allowed to pollute more than anyone else

The idea that someone can fly to space because they can spend the money flies in the face of our right to clean air. I would argue the same for jet setters like Al Gore. Jets are a major contributor to changes in the atmosphere, but we allow the rich to fly around without considering the impact each person has, and their disproportional impact on the rights of all life to breath clean, primordial air.

[cali]

19. that flight would have taken off without him.

I don't think you've thought out your argument here very well.

[cali]

20. that flight would have taken off without him.

I don't think you've thought out your argument here very well.

[Romulox]

24. How silly. Only POOR PEOPLE pollute!

:rofl:

[cali]

28. yes, yes. that's exactly what I said.

and it's clear as can be to any deranged little idiot that that's what I said.

[Romulox]

30. I'm just noting how the desires of the rich--from private jets to mansions to space flight

are always so easily integrated into a broad and nuanced sense of environmentalism.

While those slobs in their crass SUVs tend to draw far more flack. Odd. :shrug:

[KharmaTrain]

9. His Money Sure Was Green Enough

and not a bad thing. I recall someone else paying upwards of $25 million to take the ride. If this dude paid the same that's 25 million less the taxpayers have to shell out to keep the programs going.

[SidDithers]

16. It was $35 million...

and he rode up to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz, so the only savings are to Russian taxpayers.

Sid

[peekaloo]

10. Was it a little tiny spaceship?

*honk*

[Ikonoklast]

21. $35 million can buy a lot of water sanitation projects

in Third World villages.


Not my money to spend, but what will this actually accomplish? In a year only a few people will even remember he did this, let alone any cause he was supposedly championing at the time.

[cali]

22. He's pledged a hundred million for that.

[Ikonoklast]

27. Good for him, then.

Could have been $135 million, but, like I said, not my money to spend.


I still see another extremely wealthy individual spending money frivolously, and calling it something else in order to justify it to himself.


But, at least he puts his money where his mouth is. I wish I had that kind of money to give away. That would be a lot of fun.

[ensho]

23. I think what he is doing is great. and I think

people are stupid and ill informed to ridicule him.

[Forkboy]

25. Yep.

:thumbsup:

[Romulox]

26. Anybody who disagrees with me is STUPID, and I will redicule them!

LOL.

Time for an edit!

[ensho]

29. thank you for noticing the error

nt

[Kingofalldems]

31. I know he is an excellent poker player

And from what I remember, he came from absolutely nothing. He also seems like a very likable guy.