Yuri's Night | The World Space Party – Connecting people with each other, their dreams and spaceship earth.

In the past, Yuri’s Night has been featured on CNN, MTV, and the BBC, but in 2009 we’re going somewhere we’ve never gone before–Food Network!

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the NASA Goddard Space Center, Duff Goldman and his staff at Charm City Cakes are baking a Hubble Space Telescope-themed cake for Yuri’s Night DC at Goddard, one of four Yuri’s Night events being held in the metro Washington, DC area.

The Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes is the focus of Food Network’s hit show Ace of Cakes, which will be filming the 2.5-foot tall cake’s arrival at the YNDC event for broadcast in a future episode. No specific airing dates have been released. Ace of Cakes, now in its sixth season, has featured CCC-created cakes for the Super Bowl, the Preakness Stakes, the premiere of the movie Kung Fu Panda, and many other events and occasions.

“We’re extremely excited that Ace of Cakes and NASA Goddard are helping bring space to an exciting new medium,” said Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, the Executive Director for Yuri’s Night and a planned YN Goddard attendee. “People love space, and they love having the opportunity to get creative, so this cake is definitely an embodiment of the spirit of Yuri’s Night.”

Yuri’s Night NASA Goddard will take place this Saturday, April 4th, at the Goddard Visitors Center in Greenbelt, MD. Starting at 8 PM and running until 1 AM, YN Goddard will feature DJing and music by DJ Scientific and Middle Distance Runner. A demonstration of Goddard’s famous Science on a Sphere, “Are You Smarter Than A Rocket Scientist”, and other thematic activities round out the evening’s agenda. Admission is $10 in advance and $20 at the door. Beer, wine, and other refreshments will be served, so 21 and up only. For more information, visit http://dc.yurisnight.net/.

For our first Party Profile of 2009, Yuri’s Night is featuring a first-time event that nevertheless has the potential to be one of the most exciting parties of the year. The NASA Langley Research Center, located in the Hampton Roads area of southeast Virginia, will be bringing together NASA, academia and the aerospace industry on April 4th to celebrate space exploration.

As with most Yuri’s Night events, the entertainment is the centerpiece of YN Hampton Roads, and with dancing and music from DJ JeyOne and reggae band The Prisoners, this event is sure not to disappoint the standard partygoer. If dancing isn’t your cup of tea, come for the laser light show, MaxFlight simulator rides, performances by capoeira and belly dancing groups, airbrush tattoos, and the “retro space costume contest”. The best costume gets an iPod Touch, so make sure to bring your creative A-game.

T-shirt for Yuri's Night Hampton Event

Yuri’s Night isn’t just about partying, though; it’s about celebrating space and astronomy, and NASA Langley is making sure there’s something here for all sorts of space devotees. FIRST Robotics students from Hampton Roads high schools will be bringing their robots to YNHR to face off in competition, and other community members will be participating in the space-themed art and photography contest. Don’t forget to check out the Magic Planet digital video globe, Postcards from Space, and the iPod Kiosk, where you can transfer space videos from NASA Langley directly to your Apple mp3 player. NASA Langley’s support for Yuri’s Night might be most strongly evident, though, on their center website, where a countdown to the kickoff of their Yuri’s Night event is prominently displayed on the top of their home page.

Yuri’s Night Hampton Roads will be held at the Virginia Air and Space Museum on Friday, April 4th, starting at 7 PM and going until midnight. Tickets are $5 and include entertainment and food, though cash bars will also be available. 18 and up only, please. For more information on Yuri’s Night Hampton Roads, visit http://www.yurihr.com.

With only ten days until the start of Yuri’s Night 2009, parties and events around the world are gearing up for the first weeklong celebration in the Yuri’s Night’s history. Events are taking place from the 4th of April straight through to the 12th, and although there probably won’t be a Yuri’s Night party every minute of those eight days, it won’t be that terribly far from the truth either. Over 120 parties have officially registered in 35 countries on every continent except Antarctica, with time still remaining for the more impromptu planners to get registered. Still, the vast majority of events have registered at this point, so make sure to check the map for your local event if you haven’t done so already.

To celebrate the countdown for the beginning of the big event, the Yuri’s Night Media Team will be bringing you a blog posting blitz starting now and running through April 14th. Expect updates at least once every two days for the rest of the month–then daily updates once we move into April. Check back often or put us on your RSS reader to see Party Profiles for all kinds of Yuri’s Night events, Yuri’s Night’s work with NASA and other organizations, guest posts from members of the Media Team, and how to participate in Yuri’s Night even if you’re hours away from the nearest event. If you have questions about Yuri’s Night or how it all comes together, send us an email at bruss@yurisnight.net. If we get enough, we’ll even do a Yuri’s Night Mailbag!

We’re on pace to have more Yuri’s Night events than any other year except for 2008, and with parties being held at venues ranging from the California Academy of Sciences to the NASA Langley Research Center to the Stuttgart Planetarium to bars, pubs and clubs worldwide, we’re looking to have a more entertaining and productive time than ever. Keep your eye on this blog for the next few weeks as we show how we’re making the world aware of humanity’s accomplishments and future in space!