"Space clown" returns to earth

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte returned to Earth on Sunday wearing his trademark clown's red nose after a landmark space performance, media reported Monday.

A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying Laliberte and a Russian-American crew touched down in the vast steppe near Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan at 10:32 local time (04:32GMT).

Laliberte called himself "the first clown in space" and the "space clown" entertained the crew of the International Space Station and hosted a show from the space outpost.

The show, aimed at highlighting the scarcity of clean water for people in many parts of the world, involved singers, dancers and celebrities in 14 cities around the world.

During the show, Laliberte said planet Earth looked "so great, and also so fragile." "We should not forget that we have a great privilege to live on planet Earth," he said.

Organizers called the "Moving Stars and Earth for Water" spectacle the first of its kind to be hosted from space.

The 50-year-old, former fire-breather and founder of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, is worth an estimated 2.5 billion U.S. dollars.

He was reported to have paid more than 35 million dollars to become Earth's No. 7 space tourist. He spent about two weeks in space.