**Circus entrepreneur and “first clown in space” Guy Laliberte is preparing to host a global performance from the International Space Station (ISS).**Mr Laliberte will introduce acts from 14 countries in a two-hour show, scheduled to start at 2359 GMT, that will highlight global water shortages.
Al Gore, Bono and Salma Hayek are among those involved.
Mr Laliberte, founder of the Cirque de Soleil theatre company, is on a 10-day tourist visit to the ISS.
‘Originally creative’
The “Poetic Social Mission” will link up actors, artists, politicians, and activists in 14 countries including South Africa, Morocco, India, Japan and Australia.
Each will read a section of a poem by Man-Booker prize-winning author Yann Martel - emphasising the need for all the world’s population to have access to clean water - followed by a musical or artistic performance.
In South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai will read about the link between water and education, followed by a performance by musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
In London, musician and activist Peter Gabriel will speak about water as a human right before British singer Joss Stone performs.
And in Mumbai, a reading by Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva will be followed by a video recording of a performance by Academy Award-winning composer AR Rahman.
The event will be broadcast live on the website of One Drop, the water charity founded by Mr Laliberte.
Mr Laliberte blasted into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 30 September, accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams.
He is the seventh private individual to make the trip and reportedly paid $35m for his ticket.
Before his departure, he told the BBC he wanted to use his visit to the ISS to produce “something that is originally creative”.
“Hopefully we will have the result of sensitising people toward the situation of water in the world,” he said.