2010 Marks Tenth Year For Global Celebration

The organizers of Yuri's Night, an annual worldwide celebration of humanity's achievements in space, have opened registration for events centered on April 12, 2010.  Yuri's Night honors Yuri Gagarin, the first person to orbit the Earth on April 12, 1961, and the first launch of the US Space Shuttle exactly 20 years later on April 12, 1981.  Registration is free and gives event organizers access to publicity and online tools.

Yuri's Night was created in 2001 by young space enthusiasts to join the world of art, music, dance, and exploration in a fun, party atmosphere. The event was initially intended to be a single celebration in LA, but it became a grassroots global celebration with tens of thousands of people participating annually in over 200 events on all seven continents.

Each Yuri's Night event is locally organized and funded.  A non-profit group of global volunteers helps to encourage events, supports sponsorships, and provides the website where information on individual events can be posted by organizers.

Photo Credit: NASA

Individual celebrations range in size and scope, from 8000 people at the NASA Ames Research Center near San Francisco to the few cosmonauts and astronauts on the International Space Station. These independently-organized events have included all-night dance parties in the iconic Encounter Restaurant at LAX, planetarium shows at the Natural History Museum in New York, cocktail receptions in Stockholm, symbolic toasts at the South Pole research station, and a traditional ceremony under the cherry blossoms in Japan.

To celebrate the 10th year of the event, the Yuri's Night global organizers are also making plans to support a webcast to showcase parties around the world on Saturday April 11.  Clips and "toasts" from organizers and celebrities are being collected to be shown in addition to live footage from events.

FMI: www.yurisnight.net