Yuri’s Night is a worldwide grassroots effort to
celebrate humankind’s exploration of
space. It is designed to reach out to a generation of people whose
only glimpse of a Saturn V launch is from watching MTV. We want to
bring the beauty and power of space to more young people, and the
energy and fire of more young people to space.
People from around the world are planning celebrations to bring the
experience of space to a wider audience through the power of music,
imagery and dance.
Why 12 April 2001?
12 April is "Cosmonaut
Day" in Russia. It was on this day, in 1961, that Yuri Gagarin
made his historic 108 minute flight- making him the first human to
orbit the Earth and a National Hero. This year marks the 40th
anniversary of Yuri’s historic flight- a flight that opened up the
dream of space flight to all people. Yuri was only 27 years old.
As if by cosmic coincidence (the fault of a computer-failure-induced
2 day launch slip) the U.S. Space Shuttle’s maiden voyage fell on
April 12th 1981, exactly 20 years later. Commander John Young and
Pilot Bob Crippen will be celebrating the anniversary of their launch
too!
Yuri’s Night marks the Russian achievement of launching the first
human into space, and the American achievement of launching the first
reusable human spacecraft, in a year that finds both nations
cooperating and having people on orbit together on International
Space Station Alpha.
The legacy of Arthur C. Clarke and the movie 2001 are also strongly
felt this year (rotating space stations and Velcro shoes!). What
better time to throw a space party?
What does the event consist of?
Right now there are over 25
parties in more than 16 nations all around the world. Many will be
dance parties highlighting space themed music from some of the
world’s top artists. The larger
parties will be web linked and web casted so that we can follow the
celebrations as they travel around the globe.
Los Angeles will be the site of our flagship party. Here we are
planning a huge house/trance dance party that will rage on until the
wee hours of the morning with help from our friends at KCRW and some
of the area’s finest DJs. There will be people walking around in
space suits, a replica lunar rover, and special guests. We hope
to bring people together for a wonderful night of music, dance and
magic. We do not want to throw just another party, but to
create an ambience and an experience that stays with people after
they have gone home.
Where will the proceeds go?
Proceeds from the L.A.
party will go to "Under the African Skies,"
www.cosmoseducation.org a project to bring young people to
Africa to discuss science, sustainability and space in local
schools. Funds will also be donated to support "Permission
to Dream" a program to donate telescopes and build mentorships
to inner city kids in L.A. www.space-frontier.org
For more information and a map of all the
parties please visit our website at: www.yurisnight.net
Here is a little more about what we are planning for our Thurs. April
12th party in L.A.
– We have developed partnerships with KCRW and will have their DJ
Liza Richardson playing and are in talks with Jason Bentley and DJ
Mars (San Francisco) as well. We are looking for a venue that can
take 1000+ people and will be deciding between the Palace, 333 S.
Boylston and a few others this week.
– We are currently working on the pre-party press conference we will
be holding with our DJs, invited astronauts and cosmonauts, and other
V.I.P’s.
– Sea Launch is helping us connect our party with local celebrations
in Baikonour (Yuri’s launch site) as well as with local arrangements
potentially surrounding their pre-launch rocket tests in Long
Beach.
-Global Effects will be bringing 3 Gagarin era space suits, and we
will also have the operational lunar rover replica used in the
filming of HBO’s "From the Earth to the Moon" at the
event.
– The vision of this is to bring the space-inspired house and music
scene together with the people who actually make space happen.
(We are talking with Buzz Aldrin here in LA for local
support as well as MTV
involvement.)
-There is the potential of having a drawing to give away a
Zero-gravity parabolic Airplane flight and other space adventures and
prizes. (We are in talks with Space Adventures.)
-We just connected with a whole new bunch of promoters, musicians,
graphic designers and web people who are going to help make this huge
and are teleconing with the Association of Space Explorers
(astronauts and cosmonauts) this week to get them excited about the
possibilities to get involved in the L.A. party as well as other
parties around the world.
-We will be approaching NASA about developing a downlink from
International Space Station to deliver a special message from orbit
on the 12th.
We are promoting this event in a big way. We will have coverage of
the event online, in print, and on radio and T.V. (Wired, KCRW,
Space.com, CNN, LA Weekly, Urb magazine). We are working to get
web casting between the different international parties as well as
seeking sponsorship on full web broadcasting of the event but there
is still plenty more to do…
George Whitesides
Co-Creator Yuri’s Night
Formerly of Blastoff! and National Geographic Adventure Magazine
U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Space Generation Forum
626.833.5869
george@yurisnight.net
Loretta Hidalgo
Co-creator Yuri’s Night,
PhD student in Astrobiology, Caltech
N. Amer. Rep to the United Nations Space Generation Council
(and someone you have met on at least one occasion…)
626.304.9794 land or 626.429.6603 cell loretta@yurisnight.net
