Statement on the Global Nonpartisan Mission of Yuri's Night

Yuri's Night, the world space party, has recently watched some sponsors pull out of events to celebrate Yuri's Night on April 12 due to Russia's actions in Ukraine. This is a disappointing development for the worldwide organization. The purpose of this event is to celebrate human spaceflight together in a way that transcends borders and politics. The Yuri's Night global team hopes the event will encourage participants to celebrate our human potential rather than focusing on divisive politics.

Santa Rosa, CA, March 26, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Yuri’s Night is a global non-profit organization dedicated to using the excitement and inspiration of space as a catalyst for educating and developing the next generation of explorers. As a globally diverse organization, the Yuri's Night team has watched the political situation that has developed between Ukraine and Russia. Due particularly to the political conflict in Ukraine, the team has seen some sponsors pull out of events, and individuals decide to boycott Yuri’s Night this year.

The Yuri's Night team respects the choices of those sponsors and individuals that do not wish to associate with Yuri’s Night at this time, but hope that they realize that Yuri's Night transcends national borders and politics around the world. Human spaceflight is a human story, not one of any single nation.

Yuri’s Night was founded on a set of guiding principles that are grounded in a call from the planet’s first space explorer for all of us on Spaceship Earth to come together to enhance and protect our pale blue dot. The event's name honors Yuri Gagarin as the first human to orbit the Earth on April 12, 1961. Although Yuri was a cosmonaut and soldier in the USSR, the cause of Yuri's Night is not nationalistic or political in any sense. In fact, Yuri’s Night also celebrates the first launch of the United States Space Shuttle on April 12, 1981.

Yuri’s Night is a global cause powered by innumerable individuals from all political backgrounds, nationalities, and ethnicities. Independent event organizers create celebrations of all kinds in countries all over the world. Together, this worldwide group of planners and participants is so much more than individual members' national allegiances or ethnic backgrounds. As a species, we share unlimited potential.

The goal of Yuri's Night is simple: catalyze the world to set aside a day to dream about where we’re going, to explore where we are, and to celebrate where we’ve been. Yuri's Night continues to work to make strides toward a day where we’ll see our collective potential used to collaborate instead of divide.

The Yuri's Night global team as well as individual event planners invite everyone everywhere to join in the festivities this April 12. Poyekhali. Let’s go.
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Yuri's Night
Rick Hanton
651-747-5864
www.yurisnight.net
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