Guy Laliberté

Ever since he first strapped on a pair of stilts, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté has been reaching for the sky. This fall, he actually reached it - celebrating the 25th anniversary of his Montreal-based circus company with a stay on board the International Space Station. Though he spent $35-million (U.S.) to become the first clown to orbit the planet, don't call Laliberté a space tourist. The Quebec City-born entrepreneur prefers the term "humanitarian space explorer," calling his trip a "poetic social mission" to raise awareness of his One Drop Foundation, which helps improve access to water in developing countries. The trip also generated publicity for Cirque, which opened three new shows - all helping to bury the coverage of Montreal dirt digger Ian Halperin's biography of Laliberté, which hit the shelves in the summer full of allegations of very wild Grand Prix parties.