Whether in someone’s living room, a nightclub or a world-class science museum, all Yuri’s Night events have one thing in common – people who are excited about space exploration and who want to join together to celebrate it. Everyone around the world is encouraged to create their own Yuri’s Night event!

“Let’s go!” These were the words spoken by Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as he embarked on the historic first manned space flight on 12 April 1961. Twenty years later on 12 April 1981, the US launched the first space shuttle flight. That’s something worth celebrating. Every year on April 12th Yuri’s Night is celebrated all around the world – last year there were 567 events held in 75 countries worldwide. The range of events is as diverse as the people who hold them – even the residents of Antarctica and the International Space Station have been known to join in the fun!

Project owners + coordinators:
Loretta Hidalgo, co-creator
George Whitesides, co-creator
Tim Bailey, assistant director
Digital Ops Team