Laliberte to Receive Dennis Tito Award

PRESS RELEASE

“Who would not be thrilled at the news that the founder of Cirque du Soleil would be honored by an award you were involved in creating?” commented Eileen Borgeson. Artist Eileen Borgeson and holographer Jeff Allen collaborated to design the Dennis Tito Award for the heroic space tourists who train as astronauts and then return from a visit to the International Space Station (ISS).

Eileen Borgeson and Jeff Allen were also excited to find out that Guy Laliberté, also an artist, would host the First Poetic Social Mission in Space during his Sept 30 to Oct 11 visit to the ISS. Guy’s “Moving Stars and Earth for Water” event from space took place on October 9, 2009 (GMT) in 14 cities on five continents simultaneously around the world. Each city had an “artistic moment” and unfolded with the presence of artists and world-renowned personalities, including: Al Gore, Peter Gabriel and U2.

How appropriate that John Spencer, helmsman of the Space Tourist Society (STS), was the person to tell Borgeson and Allen that Guy Laliberté had just docked at the ISS an hour previously. They had called John Spencer to discuss Guy becoming the seventh honoree of the STS Dennis Tito Award.

During the historic 25th Annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC06) Dennis Tito personally presented the first two Dennis Tito Awards to Gregory Olsen (second space tourist) and Mark Shuttleworth (third space tourist.) at the Orbit Awards Event. Mark’s award was accepted by two time commander of the Space Shuttle, Astronaut Colonel Rick Searfoss.

Dennis Tito was then surprised with his own award presented to him by the artist Eileen Borgeson who was escorted by Jeff Allen.

The Dennis Tito award is two tiered with four sculptures of Borgeson’s featuring the Orbital Muse on the top. Borgeson and Allen created the concept as well as the design. The award was assembled by the fine crafts persons at Saxton Industrial who also manufactured the three sculptures that supported the Orbital Muse. Saxton Industrial also sponsored the initial three Dennis Tito Awards for the ISDC06’s Orbit Awards event.

Guy Laliberté and the other three space tourists, Anousheh Ansari, Charles Simonyi (who went to the ISS twice) and Richard Garriott will be honored with their own Dennis Tito Award at the next prestigious Space Tourism Society’s Orbit Awards Event.

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has also placed a $5,000,000 deposit for a trip to the ISS in 2011.

At the ISDC06 event, the ‘holographic crystal’ Orbit Awards, also created by Borgeson and Allen, were awarded to significant astronauts, pioneers and entrepreneurs of the private space exploration community. The list of honorees, included: Buzz Aldrin, first man who walked on the moon, Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, Richard Branson, of Virgin Galactic and everyone’s aeronautical hero, Burt Rutan, designer of the SpaceShip One. Burt Rutan’s SpaceShip One won the $10,000,000 Ansari X Prize for two consecutive Sub-Orbital Flight above 64 miles.

Eileen Borgeson is currently designing a selection of Space Explorer Wings for private individuals who take an orbital flight around the Earth which would include the Dennis Tito Award honorees. Borgeson has previously created some Private Astronaut Wings renderings for consideration by the Personal Space Flight Federation.

About Eileen Borgeson (www.EileenBorgeson.com):

A consummate artist, Eileen Borgeson for 35 years has created magnificent and iconic works for the international fine art, architectural and recognition markets, honoring such greats as: B.B. King, Elton John, Bob Hope, the Dalai Lama, Hugh Hefner, Ronald Reagan, Al Hirschfeld and Aerosmith. Her collaborations with other artists and their estates have produced unique collections for Chuck Jones, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Maxfield Parrish, and Erté (a 7 yr. collaboration) AKA, the ‘Father of Art Deco.’ Eileen has also been creating holographic art using many different holographic techniques and laboratories for 15 years.

About Jeff Allen (www.Holographics.com):

Jeff Allen is a holography visionary who, since the early seventies, has pioneered many of holography’s innovations. One such breakthrough was embossed holography which has since grown into a billion-dollar industry. Its use is in high demand for credit cards, security applications, packaging accents, optics and impactive visual and artistic communications. Allen’s unique shows of holography, virtual reality, computer animation, 3-D television and animatronics have entertained and educated millions across the United States and Canada and include such clients as: AT&T, IBM, GE, Caesar’s Palace, Warner Bros. and Deutsche Telecom.