Yuri's Night
| Yuri's Night | |
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Yuri's Night 'Yurihead' logo
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| Genre | Space exploration |
| Date(s) | April 12 |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | International |
| Inaugurated | April 12, 2001 |
| Website | |
| yurisnight |
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| Commemorates flight of Vostok 1 in 1961 | |
Yuri's Night is an international celebration held every April 12 to commemorate milestones in space exploration.
Yuri's Night is named for the first human to launch into space, Yuri Gagarin, who flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12, 1961. The launch of STS-1, the first Space Shuttle mission, is also honored, as it was launched 20 years to the day of Vostok 1 on April 12, 1981. In 2013, Yuri's Night was celebrated at over 350 events in 57 countries.
Yuri's Night is often called the "World Space Party".
The goal of Yuri's Night is to increase public interest in space exploration and to inspire a new generation of explorers. Driven by space-inspired artistic expression and culminating in a worldwide network of annual celebrations and educational events, Yuri's Night creates a global community of young people committed to shaping the future of space exploration while developing responsible leaders and innovators with a global perspective. These global events are a showcase for elements of culture that embrace space including music, dance, fashion, and art.
Yuri's Night was created in 2000 by Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, George T. Whitesides and Trish Garner. The first Yuri's Night was held on April 12, 2001, exactly 40 years after the launch of Vostok 1. Since 1962, April 12 has also been celebrated in Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) as Cosmonautics Day (Russian: День Космонавтики) and since 2011 internationally as the International Day of Human Space Flight.
The 2004 Yuri's Night event in Los Angeles was attended by space-related figures including author Ray Bradbury, space tourist Dennis Tito, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, *NSYNC's Lance Bass and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from the original Star Trek series). The event included a large party with 2 dance floors and world-class DJs.
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Wikipedia