News
“I keep thinking how amazing it was that we were celebrating the achievements of a cold war era Soviet cosmonaut at a high level NASA facility… Now that is progress.”
Scott Beale, Laughing Squid
Press Pack
Yuri’s Night 2012 Press Kit (14.3 MB)
The Rundown
What: A global celebration of humanity’s past, present and future in space
When: Every April 12; Yuri’s Night 2012 falls on a Thursday. Many celebrations this year will occur on the weekend of April 13th.
Where: Last year, Yuri’s Night had events in over 600 cities in 75 countries on all seven continents. Events have been hosted in New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Sydney, the South Pole, Second Life, and many other locations.
Who: Yuri’s Night draws tens of thousands of space explorers, artists, engineers, musicians, scientists and partygoers from around the world each year. At our flagship event hosted by the NASA Ames Research Center in 2010, over 12,000 space fans and students attended. Yuri’s Night was created by Loretta Hidalgo and George Whitesides.
Why: Because you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be a part of the next phase of human history.
Yuri’s Night at NASA Ames in 2007 (Credit: Yuri’s Night / Sam Coniglio)
History: Yuri’s Night was first held in 2001, on the 40th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space (4/12/1961) and the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first space shuttle, STS-1 (4/12/1981). Notable participants, speakers and performers at Yuri’s Night events over the years include Ray Bradbury, Will Wright, Lance Bass, Anousheh Ansari, Oksana Bailu, George Takei, Richard Garriott, Dennis Tito, Buzz Aldrin, Phil Lesh (of the Grateful Dead) and many astronauts, cosmonauts and NASA Center directors.
In 2009, the Food Network’s “Ace of Cakes” created a special Hubble Space Telescope and Jupiter cake creation for Yuri’s Night and NASA Goddard and featured it on their show. In 2010, Yuri’s Night celebrated its 10th year with a 12-hour global webcast, highlighted by greetings from the International Space Station and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
For press and media inquiries please contact:
Brice Russ
Assistant Director, Media Team Chair
rbruss at yurisnight dot net
Distributable Media
Feel free to download any of the images thumbnailed below for press material; please credit “Yuri’s Night” and, when applicable, the photographer. A more extensive set of logos is available here. Additional images from individual events are posted in our Flickr group.
Yuri's Night Los Angeles 2001 Photo Credit: Yuri's Night
Yuri's Night Bay Area at NASA Ames 2007. Photo Credit: Yuri's Night/Sam Coniglio
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