April 12, 1961
On April 12, 1961, a young (27 year old) Russian man (to borrow a now-hackneyed phrase) boldly went where no man had gone before - into space. Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit the Earth; in the 48 years between then and now, many others (men and women, of many nationalities & ethnicities) have followed, and have stayed there much longer than Yuri's hour and a half or so. With luck (and maybe some help from Elon Musk and Richard Branson), an even larger (and more diverse) number will join them over the next 50 years.
Every year since 2001, a world-wide collection of parties and events, called Yuri's Night in honor of Mr. Gagarin's voyage, has been held on April 12, to celebrate the beginning of 'the Space Age' and the idea that, once you're looking down from space, we're all Earthlings sharing a single planet. Apparently, this year the organizers have decided (for whatever reason) to expand to a week-and-a-day-long thing (which, to me personally, seems to water it down a bit, but whatever), and today is the first day of that extended period.
I won't be attending the "official" Seattle-area party at the Museum of Flight (though I did go to the 2004 party at the Space Needle, and it was fun). I'll probably just be at Noc Noc next Sunday, but I plan to raise a glass (or two) to Yuri, and to human ingenuity.
Every year since 2001, a world-wide collection of parties and events, called Yuri's Night in honor of Mr. Gagarin's voyage, has been held on April 12, to celebrate the beginning of 'the Space Age' and the idea that, once you're looking down from space, we're all Earthlings sharing a single planet. Apparently, this year the organizers have decided (for whatever reason) to expand to a week-and-a-day-long thing (which, to me personally, seems to water it down a bit, but whatever), and today is the first day of that extended period.
I won't be attending the "official" Seattle-area party at the Museum of Flight (though I did go to the 2004 party at the Space Needle, and it was fun). I'll probably just be at Noc Noc next Sunday, but I plan to raise a glass (or two) to Yuri, and to human ingenuity.