Yuri’s Night
Back in 1959 the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were engaged in what we now call the Space Race, a friendlier part of the Cold War. The Soviets beat and scared the daylights out of the Americans by sending up Sputnik in 1957. The Soviets beat the Americans again by sending up the dog Laika, the first living creature, into space in 1957. They rounded out the one-two-three punch on April 12th, 1961 with Yuri Gagarin. Yuri became the first human in space, just weeks before the United State's astronaut Alan Shepard's inaugural flight.
Thirty-seven years later, the Cold War has ended (or so we think) and so has the Space Race. Now we can celebrate this momentous achievement. All over the world, parties are held on or near April 12th. The San Diego Space Society held its party at Killer Pizza From Mars in Oceanside this past Saturday, April 11th. While open to anyone who wanted to come, they invited me because they hoped I would join their ranks.
So I trekked up to Oceanside (about 40 miles away for you non-San Diegans) with my co-worker Shalene to meet up with my boss Francis for some pizza and space nerdery. We arrived earlier then planned so we took some time to look around at the memorabilia on the walls of Killer Pizza. The walls looked like the room of a tween Star Wars fan. All of the posters, most of 90's space movies, were tacked to the wall along with unopened Star Wars prequel action figures. Not the way I would decorate a restaurant but a good fit for a space themed evening.
By the time the evening's program began around 30 people had arrived. Not a lot but it is hard to hold an event like this because LA's Yuri's Night is one of the biggest in the world. We heard from a space travel agent for Virgin Galactic, Francis gave a talk about the Apollo program with a beautiful PowerPoint I made, and then SD Space gave out an award to an 18 year old 8th grader (at least he looked like it) for his science fair project.
During this time the SD Space members elected me to become a member of the board of directors. I could not lose because seven people were on the ballot and there are seven spots on the board. I don't know what I will be doing with them yet but I can say that it will look good on my resume, Member of the Board of Directors of the National Space Society San Diego Chapter, don't you think?
The evening has obviously ended, so now I leave you with my newest Prog Rock CD cover:
Yuri Prog Rock Cover
