World's Biggest Space Party Comes To Hampton Roads

The world's biggest space party is coming to Hampton Roads. Partygoers will join 198 cities, in 51 countries, for Yuri's Night, a celebration of space exploration, April 4, 2009, from 7 pm to midnight at the Virginia Air & Space Center in downtown Hampton.

Yuri's Night Hampton Roads' high-tech theme will focus on space exploration and what is new and exciting at NASA. The event will feature a fusion of entertainment, a "Mars"tini Lounge, dance demonstrations, state-of-the-art exhibits showcasing NASA contributions, live art displays and more.

Yuri's Night is an international celebration held in April every year to commemorate two separate space exploration milestones. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, launching to orbit aboard the Vostok 3KA-2. The second milestone was the launch of the first space shuttle STS-1 on April 12, 1981.

Celebrating these huge milestones of exploration, Yuri's Night combines an evening of spectacular entertainment with NASA achievements designed to increase visibility of NASA and its missions for the next generation of emerging leaders.

Driven by space-inspired artistic expression and culminating in a worldwide network of annual celebrations and educational events, Yuri's Night creates a global community of young people committed to shaping the future of space exploration. These global events are a showcase for elements of culture that embrace space including music, dance, science and art.

Guests are encouraged to wear retro or space-themed costumes to participate in a costume contest for great prizes including an iPod Touch.

Tickets for Yuri's Night go on sale Friday, March 6. Admission for Yuri's Night is $5 per person, and information on advance ticket sales is available at the FMI link below.

FMI: www.yurihr.com