Red-nosed circus billionaire returns to Earth - MSN News UKCanadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte returned to Earth on Sunday wearing his trademark clown's red nose, landing as planned in Kazakhstan after a landmark space performance to highlight water scarcity.
A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying Laliberte and a Russian-American crew touched down in the vast steppe near Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan at 0831 Moscow time (5:31 a.m. British time).
"We have just received a report from the rescue and recovery team that the descent capsule has landed," said an announcer at Mission Control outside Moscow, to hearty applause from workers.
Laliberte, a former fire-breather and founder of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, spent about two weeks in space.
A Reuters reporter at Mission Control, watching a live feed from the landing site, saw Laliberte seated on a chaise longue after leaving the craft. He smiled and gave a thumbs-up gesture.
He was draped in a coat with a blanket covering his legs and his blood pressure was being monitored by the rescue and recovery team. A Russian Orthodox priest also was present.
The 50-year-old, who is worth an estimated $2.5 billion (1.6 billion pounds) and was reported to have paid more than $35 million to become Earth's No. 7 space tourist, entertained the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) and hosted a show from the space outpost.
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