Edit by Brice R.
3/28/2008
On April 13th, 2007, thousands of space devotees flocked to Moffett Field in Mountain View, California as the NASA Ames Research Center became the first major NASA facility to officially sponsor a Yuri's Night event. After the globally-recognized success of YN Bay Area, other NASA facilities and groups are coming up with their own ways to reach out to the oft-young Yuri's Night crowd.
A recent topic of discussion amongst many members and leaders of NASA has been the necessity of reaching out to the next generation of potential space explorers. As the average NASA employee comes closer to retirement, as NASA considers the workforce transition associated with retiring the space shuttle, and as fewer and fewer Americans remember being alive during the Apollo Program--much less being old enough to watch it--it is slowly becoming clear that the future of NASA will lie, in no small part, in the hands of "Generation Y".
Recently a presentation, highlighting trends and values within Generation Y regarding NASA, made its way through the aerospace community to everyone from the NASA administrator to Buzz Aldrin. This presentation is available in Powerpoint format at http://www.opennasa.com/files. Although reactions to the presentation have been mixed, the overall result has led to some positive discussion. NASA has reacted positively to the presentation, embracing it as an opportunity to reach out to younger generations, and Yuri's Night can play a key role in engaging this demographic.
NASA Johnson Space Center has been actively involved in planning and supporting the Houston celebration this year, recently designating Yuri's Night as a 50th Anniversary event. In Greenbelt, Maryland, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is hosting one of two high-profile Yuri's Night celebrations in the Washington, DC area. Yuri's Night Executive Director Loretta Hidalgo has been working closely with NASA Goddard for several months, and the result is an evening-long dance party with space-themed giveaways, access to NASA Goddard exhibits, and the famous 6-foot-diameter sphere, "the ultimate disco ball".
Ames Research Center, having been delighted with the success of last year's Yuri's Night event, is well on its way to hosting an even bigger and better party in 2008. In addition to the all-star musical lineup and unparalleled list of exhibitions and performances, this year features the all-new Festival of Ideas, an opportunity for visitors to get together, think about the big space issues, and share their ideas about the future of space with NASA.
NASA CoLab, an inter-center collaboration project, held a groundbreaking party in the Second Life virtual world in 2007. Plans for another NASA-affiliated party in Second Life are well on their way--if you can't attend in person, we invite you to check out the online event!
Yuri's Night is still looking for parties in areas near many NASA centers. If you're interested in finding out ways to get your NASA center involved in Yuri's Night 2008, contact loretta@yurisnight.net or brice@yurisnight.net for more information.
Yuri's Night is a program of the Space Generation Advisory Council, an organization dedicated to engaging and developing the next generation of space leaders.