Yuri's Night World Party at NASA/Ames Research Center: April 12, 2008 http://www.ynba.org/2008/
Written by Dennis Gonzales.
Photography by Jim Taylor, John Schultz, Kyle Cavallaro & Paul Langston.
Interview with S. Pete Worden by Dennis Gonzales.
"Radical Technology for a Sustainable Future." - Yuri's Night 2008 World Party
Yuri's Night 2008: Greeting from the ISS
NASA Ames Research Center hosted its second annual Yuriís Night Bay Area (YNBA), on April 12, 2008, and drew 7,000 people to Moffett Field on a very hot day. The event took place inside Hangar 211-B, adjacent to the Moffett Federal Airfield. (12 hours of the celebration were also webcast live on the Ames web site.) 80,000 square feet devoted to live electronic music, and science and technology demonstrations! Another 400,000 square feet, the tarmac, were devoted to displays and demonstrations of green technology, organic food stands, aeronautical demos, art installations, and also accommodated the main stage for outdoor entertainment.
Yuriís Night was founded in 2001 by members of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), a non-governmental organization representing youth, students and young space professionals, in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Application. (The SGAC was conceived at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Space in Vienna in 1999, and has permanent observer status in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.)
YNBA 2008 was co-hosted by the NASA Ames Research Center and the non-profit Space Generation Foundation (SGF). NASA Ames CoLab's Jessica Culler helped facilitate the 2008 event in the bay area, along with James Busby, Matt Hancher, Chris Boshuizen and many others.
The global Yuriís Night educational outreach event commemorates the launch and orbit of its namesake, Yuri Gagarin, into space (the first man ever to reach that frontier). The event also celebrates the first launch of the Space Shuttle (John Young and Bob Crippenís mission on April 12, 1981) and the 50th Anniversary of NASA (formerly known as NACA). YNBA 2008 was also dedicated to the great late science fiction writer Sir Arthur Clarke, whose visions of the future (2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous of Rama) have guided a generation of scientists and artists. (Below are hightlights of the second NASA Ames Yuri's Night)
YNBA 2008 kicked off with a speech by Center Director S. Pete Worden, who took to the stage in a Soviet Two-Star General uniform.
"There's two events that we're celebrating today. The first is Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961. The second: the first space shuttle flight in 1981. This is the history of both of these events and a lot of others in our early space programs, motivated more by competition, but weíre now entering a fabulous new era, the next step of mankind's development and eventual settlement of the solar system. This is with our programs to go to the Moon, Mars and beyond. But the key thing in this celebration really brings home to us is that were going as humanity. We're going together, were going as all nations and weíre going to take with us not the science and technology, which is present here today, but the art, the society, the music, the dancing and the joy of being humans. So, for the next 12 hours, I really want to welcome everybody to the past, present and the future. The only other other advice I can give you: party like its 1961, 1981 or 2081; you take your pick."
Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 - Center director, S. Pete Worden
Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 - Astronaut Karol "Bo" Bobko
Yuri's Night 2008
The theme for YNBA 2008 was "Radical Technology for a Sustainable Future." Many of the presenters displayed eco-friendly and sustainable projects, which incorporated recycled/reused materials or renewable power sources; others offered demonstrations of green technology, including a transportation project that reduces gasoline use.
YNBA 2008 also offered cutting edge, interactive demonstrations that showcased the exciting and important work of NASA and its partners, while local and international artists and musicians exhibited works related to the eventís theme. This unique blend of science-loving artists, art-loving scientists, and others who blur the line between all disciplines demonstrated our cultureís radical new vision for sustaining our future.
Yuriís Night was founded in 2001 by members of the 
The global Yuriís Night educational outreach event commemorates the launch and orbit of its namesake, Yuri Gagarin, into space (the first man ever to reach that frontier). The event also celebrates the first launch of the Space Shuttle (John Young and Bob Crippenís mission on April 12, 1981) and the 50th Anniversary of NASA (formerly known as NACA). YNBA 2008 was also dedicated to the great late science fiction writer Sir Arthur Clarke, whose visions of the future (2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous of Rama) have guided a generation of scientists and artists. (Below are hightlights of the second NASA Ames Yuri's Night)
YNBA 2008 kicked off with a speech by Center Director S. Pete Worden, who took to the stage in a Soviet Two-Star General uniform.
