News Room
“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
What: A celebration of humanity’s future
When: Every April 12. Yuri’s Night 2010 falls on a Monday. This year many celebrations will happen on Saturday April 10.
Where: Last year, Yuri’s Night had events in 217 cities in 47 countries (including one in the Second Life virtual world). You can see lists of each years events (back to 2004) here.
Who: Created by Loretta Hidalgo and George Whitesides, attendance last year was in the tens of thousands. Space explorers, artists, engineers, musicians, party goers, and scientists from all over the planet all take part in this unique planetary event.
Why: Because you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be a part of the next phase of human history.
What’s special about this years event? NASA Ames is again hosting a massive event with major headliners like Les Claypool of Primus, Common, The Black Keys and N.E.R.D. Private Space Explorer Richard Garriott will be the keynote speaker kicking off the night talking about his 2008 flight on the Soyuz to the International Space Station. We will have a greeting from the International Space Station and a live webcast checking in with many of the events world-wide courtesy of SpaceVidCast.com. The South Pole will also be celebrating, giving us events on all 7 continents as well as events in Second Life. This year also marks the 10th annual Yuri’s Night and we have a collection of toasts from space luminaries as part of our new iTunes Podcast series that people can include in their events as well as a new iPhone ap to find a party near them.
Yuri's Night Bay Area at NASA Ames 2007 Photo 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 and, coincidentally, the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first space shuttle STS-1. Notable participants and speakers at Yuri’s Night events over the years include Ray Bradbury, Nichelle Nichols, Lance Bass, Anousheh Ansari, Oksana Bailu, George Takei, Dennis Tito, Buzz Aldrin, Phil Lesh (of the Grateful Dead) and many astronauts, cosmonauts and NASA Center directors. The largest event was held at the NASA Ames center with over 4,000 attendees, though parties range in size from the gigantic to the intimate. Last year, 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.
For press and media inquiries please contact:
Brice Russ
Director of Media Relations
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 images and descriptions will be available soon on our Flickr page.
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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