Accompanying US astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-16 spacecraft, Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte became the world's seventh space tourist - the first "clown" into the orbit!

The Soyuz spaceship, which took off with its three-member crew from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on October 2.

Laliberte, a former fire-breather and founder of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, is reported to have paid $35 million for his 12-day long stay in space.

The entertainer said that he intends making the ISS astronauts laugh during his stay with them; and will produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for the humankind.

It will be on October 9 that the 50-year-old circus entrepreneur would lead a two-hour-long "poetical social" performance from orbit. The one-of-its-kind show will hook up with contributions from 14 cities round the world and will be streamed on the web.

Explaining his endeavor to the Associated Press this week, Laliberte said: "I start with the simple idea of reading a poem, which will involve characters like the Sun, the Moon and a drop of water.

Those characters will then engage in a discussion, which will take the form of a little poetic story that we will read to the population of Earth."