April 12, 2013: Yuri’s Night Rocks the Planet!!!

On April 12, 2013, the world’s biggest space party will take place across the globe. So far there are 190 parties in 32 countries on 6 continents registered and counting!!

In 1961 Yuri Gagarin shocked the world when he became the first human to orbit the Earth, landing safely in his Vostok-1 capsule.  The space race was in high gear.  Twenty years later to the day in 1981, NASA launched the Space Shuttle program’s first orbital flight.  They happened on opposite sides of the space race but they share a date: April 12^th.

For over ten years, Yuri’s Night has been organizing a world-wide space party to celebrate these achievements.  Yuri’s Night gives space geeks everywhere a chance to transcend nationality and ethnicity and party with mylar, space-related cocktails, and epic tunes at venues all over the world. Check out what one of our favorite Star Trek actors, LeVar Burton, has to say about Yuri’s Night:

This year, Yuri’s Night is working with Science Cheerleader and its sister site SciStarter on project MERCCURI (Microbial Ecology Research Combining Citizen and University Researchers on ISS.) Science Cheerleader promotes participation in citizen science projects and encourages young women to consider careers in science. SciStarter promotes participation in citizen science projects by bringing together citizen scientists with researchers and their projects. MERCCURI is a citizen science project out of UC Davis which will study and compare microbes on earth to microbes aboard the International Space Station. Science Cheerleaders will be collecting samples from Yuri’s Night parties and at least one sample taken from a Yuri’s Night event will fly on the ISS this September to participate in a global microbial growth competition. You could be at that event partying with a Science Cheerleader!!

Also collaborating with Yuri’s Night this year is We Want Our Future, an organization based out of the University of Colorado at Boulder. WWOF works with schools and teachers to get students excited about careers in science, by learning about exploration and then drawing postcards representing their dreams for future careers in science.  This year schools were able to participate in a contest to win party packs of Yuri’s Night gear to throw their own awesome Yuri’s Night parties.

The Planetary Society is also partnering with Yuri’s Night and we can’t wait to hang with Buzz Aldrin, Garrett Reisman and the shuttle Endeavour. Planetary Radio will broadcasting live from Space Shuttle Pavilion in Los Angeles while we party and celebrate Yuri’s epic achievement.   

So much awesomeness, it takes a whole planet to make it happen!! Join us at a Yuri’s Night event in your area or plan your own.  For more information or to find or register a party, visit yurisnight.net.

See you out there and rock the planet!!