A Soyuz capsule carrying Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and two fellow astronauts lifted off on schedule on Wednesday from the Baikonur launch facility atop a towering Russian rocket.
Laliberte, US astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev got a rousing sendoff from friends and family at the Russian launch facility on the Kazakh steppe. They are expected to arrive at the orbital outpost on Friday.
Laliberte plans to help publicise the world's growing shortage of clean water. But he's also doing his best to make the trip fun. The entertainer donned a bulbous red clown nose before boarding the capsule and brought several of the novelty noses for his crew mates.
(Published 30 September 2009, 08:46 IST)
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