Get tickets for the Cleveland Yuri's Night at glsc.org/yurisnight.php

Top on my list of Cleveland places I still need to visit is the Great Lakes Science Center. We’re big science fans in our house and ever since the NASA Glenn Visitor Center moved down there, we have plenty of reasons to go.

Another reason to visit – and to celebrate two huge milestones in space travel – is coming up on Saturday, April 7:

Yuri’s Night at the Great Lakes Science Center.

Yuri’s Night is a party that commemorates April 12, 1961, the day of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight, and April 12, 1981, the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle.

Every April these Yuri’s Night events take place across the world — combining space-themed partying with education and outreach in honor of humanity’s past, present, and future in space.

Yuri's Night parties take place across the globe. Pictured here is the 2007 Yuri's Night Bay Area party at NASA Ames. (Photo Credit: Yuri's Night/Sam Coniglio/yurisnight.net/press-room)

The Great Lakes Science Center’s Yuri’s Night will take place April 7 from 8pm to 1am. Tickets include:

• Live music from Disco Inferno and all-night dancing
• Beer, wine and hors d’oeuvres
• Costume contest for the best space-themed attire
• NASA Glenn Visitor Center exhibits
• Trivia contest with an astronaut
• A visit from the 501st Legion dressed in Star Wars costumes
• Big Science Shows – witness a large-scale spectacle of science

Additionally, the first 200 guests to arrive will receive a free ticket to a midnight showing of the OMNIMAX movie Hubble (so get there on time!).  Specialty drinks will be available to purchase — including a different flavored jello shot every hour.

Tickets for Cleveland’s official Yuri’s Night party cost $60 online (you must be 21 and over to attend).

However, through this Saturday, March 17, you can get your tickets for just $50 each. Use the promo code “Gagarin” when you purchase your tickets online.

Designated drivers and Great Lakes Science Center members can get discounted tickets by calling 216-621-2400.

Want to learn more about Yuri’s Night?  Check out the Great Lakes Science Center’s event site here and follow @YurisNight to keep up-to-date on all of the global celebrations.

Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!”

– Yuri Gagarin, 1st person in space