Edit by Brice R.
4/11/2008
Each April 12th since 2001, Yuri's Night has held dozens of parties around the world in celebration of the historic rocket launch of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. This year's festivities are shaping up to be the biggest and most diverse yet, with over 175 events registered in 50 countries on all 7 continents.
Each Yuri's Night party is unique--events range from academic presentations to all-night dances to backyard barbecues and everything in between--but every event has the same purpose: to get people of all ages excited about space. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding, Yuri's Night is working with NASA centers across the nation to hold parties in Huntsville, Alabama, Washington, D.C., Houston, and San Francisco. The latter event, set to take place on Moffett Field at the NASA Ames center, is the flagship event for Yuri's Night 2008. Thousands of people are expected to attend this massive event with scientific and artistic presentations, music by acclaimed artists Amon Tobin and Freezepop, and speeches from luminaries such as game designer Will Wright.
Yuri's Night is a global event. Parties are planned for nearly every state in the USA, but large-scale events are also scheduled for Tokyo, Japan, Stuttgart, Germany, Ibadan, Nigeria, and Star City, Russia, among many other cities. Parties are even being held at the South Pole and Extropia in the Second Life virtual world, where science-fiction author David Brin will be making an appearance.
To find the party nearest you, visit
http://www.yurisnight.net/2008/party-central/find-party.php; odds are good that at least one will be nearby. If there isn't, you can still keep up with the action on UStream, which will have live feeds from several of the biggest parties throughout Saturday evening. You can also watch a Yuri's Night greeting from the crew of the International Space Station at
http://www.yurisnight.net/2008/resources/video.php.
Many parties continue selling tickets at the event (or have free admission), so there's still plenty of time to make Yuri's Night part of your weekend plans. We hope to see you there!
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.