May 13, 2013 — The Yuri’s Night Board of Directors is extremely proud to announce that Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and the Canadian Space Agency have been named the recipients of this year’s Spirit of Yuri’s Night Award.
“Chris Hadfield is a true space rockstar,” said Yuri’s Night Executive Director Dr. Ryan Kobrick. “We couldn’t think of a worthier candidate for the Spirit of Yuri’s Night Award, and we’d like to thank Chris, Magalie Renaud, Carole Duval, Mathieu Landry, Gregory Virc, Amanda Morris, Nancy Vezina, and everyone at the CSA for their work in promoting space and inspiring generation after generation.”
The Spirit of Yuri’s Night Award, chosen each year by the Yuri’s Night Board of Directors, recognizes “a person or persons that embody the Yuri’s Night mission of using space and art to contribute to the future of humanity, both in space and on Earth.” Previous winners of the Spirit of Yuri’s Night Award, the highest award that can be given out by the Yuri’s Night Global Executive Team, include private space adventurer Richard Garriott, astronaut Ron Garan and NASA Ames Center Director Dr. Pete Worden.
Chris Hadfield, with support from the Canadian Space Agency, has become globally known for his public outreach and his tireless work to share the beauty and inspiration of space with the world. While in orbit, Hadfield has posted stories and photos to the 820,000 followers of his @Cmdr_Hadfield Twitter account, and he has collaborated on several musical and educational projects while in space, including a performance with the band Barenaked Ladies for Canada’s Music Monday.
He has participated in several “downlink” video chats with thousands of students, including a “CSA Tweetup” co-sponsored by Yuri’s Night, and provided a Yuri’s Night video greeting from the ISS to the 354 parties and events which celebrated Yuri’s Night this April. Hadfield, who served as commander of the International Space Station from March 13 to May 12 of this year, will be completing his mission and returning to Earth tonight (May 13) at 10:31 PM Eastern time.
The 2013 Spirit of Yuri’s Night Award is a one-of-a-kind design of aerogel, a superlight material used in several astronautical capacities, that includes the Yuri’s Night logo. Yuri’s Night wishes to thank Aerogel Technologies (http://www.aerogeltechnologies.com/) for the design and sponsorship of the 2013 award. The Spirit of Yuri’s Night Award will be presented to Chris Hadfield this summer; further details on the presentation will be announced soon.
About Yuri’s Night
Yuri’s Night is a global non-profit organization dedicated to hosting celebrations of humanity’s past, present and future in space each April 12 in commemoration of Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight and the inaugural launch of the Space Shuttle. In 2013, Yuri’s Night celebrated 52 years of human spaceflight with 354 events in 57 countries on all seven continents, including Los Angeles, Tokyo, Moscow, and the Second Life virtual world. For more information, visit www.yurisnight.net.
