Space Coast Yuri’s Night 2022

John Pisani

Space Coast Chronicler for Cosmic Perspective

Sharing the Cosmic Perspective and Celebrating humanity in space

Yuri’s Night is a celebration centered around the anniversary of the first human in space. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin orbited the planet and safely re-entered aboard Vostok 1. This milestone during the space race of the 1960’s captured international attention and inspired many. We are all crew on spaceship Earth. Each year hundreds of Yuri’s Night parties pop up at science centers, museums, and other places all around the globe to celebrate all that humanity brings with us to the cosmos: music, art, science, culture, and each other.

Cosmic Perspective’s MaryLiz Bender and John Pisani were in attendance this year to share the cosmic perspective with attendees by sending them on an immersive journey around Starbase, TX, Cape Canaveral, and Kennedy Space Center. Wearing a VR headset, a haptic suit and headphones, you were immediately standing on the side of the highway as Starship rolls by. And then, from within the confines of LC-39A or SLC-40, witnessing a Falcon 9 lifting off. There were other artists, engineers, and well-known individuals in attendance enjoying the night and sharing their work, perspectives, and spreading the importance of space outreach.

Overall, it was a fantastic evening. After two years of purely-virtual events, it was so nice to see everyone in person and really connect. Thank you to everyone that stopped by the booth to chat and have an experience. It is by these immersive perspectives that we can accomplish our mission:

“We are a collective of artists driven and reverent for this work: To inspire hope and excitement for the future, unify the world through awe and wonder, and to archive for history what it is like to live in this time as humanity takes its first steps towards becoming a multi-planet species.”

One of the fun parts of the evening for me was actually being one of the official photographers for the event. So, I got to run around taking pictures. You can find a full gallery on my website.