A Russian has won a trip to space with Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Businessman Vasily Klyukin paid 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million) for the flight at a glitzy charity auction on the sidelines of the 66th Cannes film festival on Thursday night.
Klyukin also bought a gold and diamond necklace for 400,000 euros. The proceeds will go to amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.
Klyukin, 37, who lives in Monaco, said he had always wanted to go into space.
"I want to be a bit daring," Klyukin, who works in real estate, told Reuters. Further details about the businessman weren't immediately available. "I will have to give up smoking now for sure!" he said.
Klyukin will spend three days training with DiCaprio before blasting off on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft from a launching site in New Mexico, actress Sharon Stone said.
Two other tickets for the flight raised an additional 1.8 million euros, she said.
Klyukin wasn't the only Russian to triumph at Cannes. On Friday, St. Petersburg-born director Darya Belova won the Discovery Prize for her short film "Come and Play," about a Russian-German boy in Berlin.
Cannes, the world's largest film festival, wraps up on Sunday.
