Yuri’s Night Parties from Auckland, New Zealand to Alicante, Spain to Los Angeles, California Celebrate the Power of Space to Bring the World Togeth

After years of an international pandemic as well as some claims of the canceling of Yuri, the international celebration of human spaceflight returns! The past year has been challenging in many ways. We believe it is critical, now more than ever, to celebrate the things that bring us together as a species and inspire us to step up as the Crew of Spaceship Earth.

April 8, 2022 – Yuri’s Night, the World Space Party, has again inspired a series of celebrations spanning the planet! The party starts with our flagship event, Yuri’s Night L.A., on April 9 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and continues throughout the week with our second flagship event at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sat April 16. Both flagship events are hosted under retired U.S. Space Shuttles. (April 12 is also the anniversary of the 1st shuttle launch). Other events are being organized independently online and around the globe.

This year we’ve seen amazing advances in spaceflight: the all-private crew fly a 3 day orbit Inspiration4 mission, the youngest ever astronaut, the oldest ever astronaut and the first flight of a person with a prosthesis in space. Blue Origin’s New Shepard has flown crews to the edge of space and back safely 4 times in the last year, giving a substantial number of new private astronauts an experience of the Overview Effect. Virgin Galactic also successfully flew Sir Richard Branson and 3 other mission specialists on an initial crewed flight in 2021 and plans to start commercial flights later this year.

There is no shortage of amazing guests who will join Yuri’s Night events this year. Yuri’s Night LA, sponsored by Paragon SDC, is in-person on April 9th at the California Science Center. The event will feature two Astronauts from the Inspiration4 SpaceX mission, Dr Sian Proctor on the main stage and Chris Sembrowski in the VIP pre-party. We will also have on hand members of the Mission: AstroAccess team who are working to ensure future human space missions are disability-inclusive. The Blue Origin Astronaut DJ DR CHRISPY (aka Chris Boshuizen) will kick off the DJ line-up as our first-ever Astronaut DJ. The Space Coast event in Florida also features Dr. Sian Proctor and DJ DR CHRISPY plus NASA astronauts Dr. Story Musgrave & Nicole Stott. At both parties you will be able to create art on a postcard to send to space through Blue Origin’s Club for the Future.

Dozens of other events have been scheduled around the world from Mexico to South Korea and Spain to New Zealand at bars, planetariums, museums, and more to celebrate the start of human spaceflight in 1961 and the cosmic coincidence that the shuttle first launched 20 years later to the day. Over the next few weeks, thousands of people will gather to celebrate what spaceflight means to them and to their communities. 

Like St. Patrick’s Day, Yuri’s Night events range from huge gatherings in major cities to small get-togethers in local communities and everything in-between. There is no prescriptive way to celebrate spaceflight for Yuri’s Night because the real goal is to promote understanding and community and to have fun while doing it. Many events encourage attendees to dress up in costume and share what space means to them. Many events host Star Wars or Star Trek groups, bands of roving astronauts, and sometimes even aliens, all in the name of guests having a fun time that is like no other event on Earth!

It is likely that no matter where any person lives, they can make it to a celebration of space near them, or host their own! Disney Junior has also made it easier than ever to get involved by making their “Yuri’s Night” episode of the animated show Miles from Tomorrowland available free on YouTube for the whole month of April! 

To learn more about Yuri’s Night events worldwide and how to find events being held nearby, check out the Yuri’s Night Worldwide Event List at https://www.yurisnight.net/events/

You can also read our statement standing for peace in Ukraine at www.yurisnight.net/peace

About Yuri’s Night

Yuri’s Night is a global non-profit organization using the excitement and inspiration of space as a catalyst for educating and developing the next generation of explorers. We organize events, host projects, and encourage exploring new ideas. Yuri’s Night is best known for our global celebration of the power of space to bring the world together. Yuri’s Night parties are held around the world every April in commemoration of the dual anniversaries of Yuri Gagarin flight to become the first human to venture into space on April 12, 1961, and the inaugural launch of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. Our vision is that Yuri’s Night is a holiday that will be celebrated 10,000 years in the future when humanity is scattered across 12 star systems.

For more photos and details, check out https://yurisnight.net/press/

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