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Guy LALIBERTE
Participant of space flight, Canada

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:
September 2, 1959, Quebec city, Canada

MARITAL STATUS:
He has five children: three from his marriage to Rizia Moreira and two children from his marriage to Claudia Barilla.

AWARDS:
Chevalier of Ordre National du Quebec, the highest government award of Quebec (1997).
Officer of Order of Canada, the highest civil award of Canada (2004).

WORK EXPERIENCE:
He started his artistic career when he was fourteen giving performances on the streets and squares of various cities, countries and continents, from his native Quebec to Hawaiian islands.
He is an experienced accordion player, walked on stilts, known as "fire eater".

By the late 70s he already acted as the creator and organizer of tours teaming up with his school friend Daniel Gauthier who by that time had graduated from a business college and owned consulting and administration company.

In 1984 he together with Daniel Gauthier set up the firm known as "Cirque du Soleil", which owned several dancing-acrobatic companies operating in some countries. The firm has headquarters in Montreal and is worth nearly 2 bln US dollars. Now its troupes perform in different countries; about four thousand actors are employed in them. Circus actors took part in ceremonies of giving Oscar and Grammy prizes. Circus achievements are recognized by the main professional prizes of the circus community and one of the shows was marked by the Emmy Award. In 2009 this circus performance opened in Moscow musical contest "Eurovision".

In October 2007 he set up fund "One Drop". The fund seeks to draw attention to the problem of clean drinking water deficit and secure free access of the world population to uncontaminated sources of water. The fund was initially financed due to his personal contribution in the amount of 100 million US dollars.

By the 2008 total he was ranked as the 562nd in the list of the world's richest persons. His fortune is valued at 1.4 billion US dollars.
He is a professional poker player.

Since 2004 he looked into possibilities of Space flight with the participation of Space Adventures Company.
On June 2, 2009 the Space Adventures Company announced that Canadian national would be the next space tourist. On June 4, 2009 Roscosmos and Space Adventures Company officially announced the news about it to the public. At the official presentation, the Head of Roscosmos Human Flight Programs Alexei Krasnov declared that Laliberte had already started training in the Research Test Center after Yu.A. Gagarin in the Star City. In the course of flight Laliberte is going to draw attention of the whole world to the water resources problem as part of space research "using ingenious political approach". His reports will highlight initiatives undertaken by the fund "One Drop", whose motto is the following: "water for all, everything - for water". The fund mission is to fight against poverty, for getting access to water and increased awareness of crucial problems concerning water.

September 2009
Based on data of site astronaut.ru