MONTREAL - Cirque du soleil founder Guy Laliberte slid into his celestial conductor's chair on the International Space Station on Friday, cracking jokes, donning a red clown nose and bringing his "Spacestock"-style show one step closer to reality.

Laliberte, the ex-street performer turned global entertainment czar, is poised to make show business history next week with his "Moving Stars and Earth for Water" show, which he will host from the orbiting lab.

It's the first show of its kind to be hosted from outer space. It carries a serious message about promoting water conservation.

But Laliberte was goofing around as he arrived at the space station Friday, saying he's "adapting pretty good" while squeezing in with the spacecraft's eight other occupants, which include Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk.

Back in Montreal, organizers scrambled to put the finishing touches on the multi-country, 14-city, multimedia extravaganza to be broadcast via the Internet and several TV networks on Oct. 9.

A galaxy of entertainment, political and environmental stars are set to shine during the event, including former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, singers Bono, Peter Gabriel and Shakira, internationally acclaimed author Yann Martel, and environmentalist David Suzuki.

Fernand Rainville, the show's creative director, said in an interview in Montreal that his team have been working feverishly for the last 12 weeks to put the show together.

Despite its informative theme, the eight-language show won't be a lecture and will use poems, music and readings in a story crafted by Martel to get its point across.

"It tells the story of an argument between the sun and the moon and (discusses) what is happening on Earth," Rainville said.

"It has a childish quality to it but it has very adult themes."

Every one of the 14 cities involved will have a certain theme related to that city.

"In Osaka, where (pop star) Tatuya Ishii is doing a performance, the poetic tales bring forth the problems related to the melting of the ice caps, which will raise eventually the ocean levels," Rainville said.

"In Johannesburg, we are bringing the idea of water and education and how the two are related."

Other cities involved include Montreal, Durban, Tampa, Fla., Santa Monica, Ca., Moscow, Paris, Mexico City, New York City, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, London, Marrakesh, and Mumbai.

There will be a few surprises, Rainville said, but he wouldn't elaborate.

The event will be seen on the Internet through the website of Laliberte's One Drop Foundation at www.onedrop.org. RDI, the French-language all-news channel of the CBC, will be the host TV broadcaster in Canada, while DIRECTV will broadcast the two-hour show in the United States.

Free public gatherings where the show can be watched on big screens will be held in some places with a local live performance. Most of the acts on the broadcast will be live but Rainville said some have been taped in advance for logistical reasons.

"It is the first time something of this scope has been attempted so we're all crossing our fingers," he said with a chuckle.

Rainville added viewers should come away enlightened about water issues and other cultures but also about the research done on the space station, such as how water can be recycled.

However, Rainville said there likely won't be a DVD of the show available later if people want it. He said Laliberte isn't interested in making money on the venture. The trip has cost Laliberte $35 million.

"He's not asking for money, he's actually putting more of his own money out there and saying let's try to do something that unites us instead of tearing us apart," Rainville said.

Putting on a show like this is a good way to do it, he said, because, "entertainment and creativity has a way of getting people together."

Rainville, who has one child and pointed out Laliberte has five, said the bottom line of the show is about making a difference in the world for current and future generations.

"We've got to think a little bit about what's going to be left after we leave," he said.