BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Yuri's Night - party on . . .

On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to look down on the Earth from orbit as Vostok 1 took him once around the planet. Forty years later, the first Yuri's Night celebrations occurred to commemorate this historic event, and to encourage interest in space exploration. People in dozens of countries have been partying on this night ever since. I looked at the website for Yuri's Night and it lists parties in 45 countries. Maybe there's one near you?

In 2011, fifty years after Gagarin's flight, Christopher Riley recreated his historic voyage in a film, which I wrote about.

First Orbit - film review
On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin saw what no human had ever seen before: the Earth from space. Now "First Orbit" allows you to imagine that you are making the historic voyage. Film shot from the International Space Station creates the views, but you'll also have Philip Sheppard's music.

If you don't have a nearby Yuri's Night party, this film is available online. There's a link in my article.

This is a seven and a half minute video about the making of "First Orbit". This is a fascinating story. It certainly helped me to understand what was going on in the actual film.

There will be Yuri's Night parties on all of the world's seven continents. Yes, even Antarctica! The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station are also celebrating, and are probably enjoying an excuse for a party. From mid-February til late October, there are only about fifty staff at the station which has to be self-sufficient during that time. The Sun set sometime last month and won't be seen again until September.

December and January are the height of summer in Antarctica. The average high then is a balmy -26 degrees F (16 Celsius). If that doesn't sound all the warm, compare it to the average high for April: -54 F/-66 C). Best not to think about the average low.

I've just had a look at the Yuri's Night website. It listed 204 parties. And not to be left out of the excitement, the Antarctic Concordia Station is also celebrating human space exploration. This is one of three permanent Antarctic stations, and it's operated by France and Italy. (Amundsen-Scott and Vostok are the other two.)

Concordia is overwintering this year with a team of thirteen , according to Wikipedia, 6 French, 5 Italian, 1 Russian and 1 Greek. Hope they enjoyed their evening. It's a long time til October.