Yuri’s Night: International Events to Celebrate Over 50 Years of Human Spaceflight
A global celebration of human space achievement will take place on April 12 as the world remembers the 1st human space flight of Russia Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin TL) and the inaugural launch of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1) by NASA Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen (BR) exactly 20 years later. Now in its 12th year, Yuri’s night has become the world’s largest Space celebration with over 100,000 people participating in over 500 events, spanning 7 continents and 75 countries in 2011. This year’s theme, “Make an Impact,” reminds participants of the importance of human space travel, and it encourages them to make their own impact locally through their Yuri’s Night event. The Blackstarr Group will host ‘Yuri’s Night LA’ on April 12 in Los Angeles CA. Space industry leaders from Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, NASA, Space Frontier Foundation, and XCOR are expected to attend the free event including Yuri’s Night Founders Loretta Hidalgo and George Whitesides (BL). The British Interplanetary Society will hold its Yuri’s Night celebration in London, with a screening of the hit internet film, ‘First Orbit’ and a presentation by Producer / Director Chris Riley. This year, over 120 Yuri’s Night events have been registered in 35 countries. (Image Credit: yurisnight.net, NASA, Zork Magazine, sales.vgtrk.com)
Tokyo to Host Regional Earth Observation Symposium
The 5th GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium takes place on April 2-4 in Tokyo, Japan at Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems project is being designed to connect Earth observation content and decision-support tool providers with end users in order to enhance the relevance of Earth observations to global issues including: development, natural resource management, disasters and climate change. An extraordinary range of timely information, raw data, imagery and analytical software packages, as well as common technical standards for cohesive use of data from thousands of different instruments, will all provide enhanced understanding of the world we inhabit. This symposium will further strengthen international networking and provide a venue for regional members to share their progress and experiences with the global community of GEO members totaling 88 nations. On Monday morning there will be a welcome address by renowned Japan astronaut and Director of Miraikan Dr. Mamoru Mohri, and a keynote speech by Professor Takashi Onishi, President of the Science Council of Japan. (Image Credit: GEO, Google)
= All times for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time;’ Greenwich, England).
Weekly Planet Watch – Morning Planets: Saturn (S) / Evening Planets: Venus (W), Mars (S), Jupiter (W).
MONDAY
Apr 2 — International Space Station, LEO: E-30 crew members continue performing a variety of routine maintenance activities as well as unloading 7.2 tons of food, fuel and supplies from the “Edoardo Amaldi” ATV-3.
Apr 2 — Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Orbit: NASA LRO functioning nominally in its 50±15 km near-circular orbit as it makes digital elevation and surface maps that will be a fundamental reference for future human exploration.
Apr 2 — Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), In Transit to Red Planet: NASA MSL spacecraft continues trek to Mars after a successful course correction; Rover to explore Mount Sharp shortly after Aug 2012 arrival.
Apr 2 — Jupiter Juno Mission, In Transit to Jupiter: Juno spacecraft completes 241st day of mission as it continues long journey to Jupiter.
Apr 2 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics – San Francisco, Mountain View CA: ‘Tech Talks: Cubesats, the ISS and Plug-n-Play.’
Apr 2-4 — ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: ‘Dust and Grains in Low Gravity and Space Environment.’
Apr 2-5 — Applied Technology Institute, Colorado Springs CO: ‘Earth Station Design, Implementation, Operation and Maintenance for Satellite Communications,’ Bruce Elbert.
Apr 2-4 — The Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan, Tokyo, Japan: ‘The 5th GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium.’
Apr 2-5 — Astronomical Institute Utrecht, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands: ‘370 Years of Astronomy in Utrecht.’
Apr 2 — Asteroid 2012 EG5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.002 AU).
Continued from…
Feb 2 — Eptek Art and Culture Center, Canadian Space Agency, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada: ‘Canada’s Stellar Space Achievements & The Conquest of Space in Images,’ traveling exhibitions; through May 2.
TUESDAY
Apr 3 — NASA, O.Henry Middle School, Austin TX: Over 100 middle school students at O. Henry Middle School to speak with E-30 Cmdr Dan Burbank and flight engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers about living and working in Space at 11:20 EDT.
Apr 3 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: ‘Lecture: Experimental Investigations of Lunar Plasma and Dust Dynamics,’ Adrienne Dove.
Apr 3-4 — University of South Hampton, South Hampton, United Kingdom: ‘12th British Gravity Meeting.’
Apr 3-5 — Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD: ‘Titan Through Time 2 Workshop: Formation, Evolution and Fate,’ Ralph Lorenz.
Apr 3 — Venus: 0.40° SSE of Alcyone, brightest star in the Pleiades; 11:00.
Apr 3 — Moon: 5.6° SSW of Regulus, 05:00; 8.3° SSW of Mars, 11:00.
Apr 3 — Asteroid (Near-Earth Flyby): 2010 GD35 (0.063 AU); 2011 AA11 (0.073 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Apr 4 — The British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: ‘Lecture: Perceived Anomalies in the Apollo Lunar Surface Images,’ Marcus Allen.
Apr 4 — The SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Colloquium Series Lecture: ‘Characterization of Dark Materials on Iapetus, Phoebe and Hyperion,’ Cristina Dalle Ore.
Apr 4 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: Ask and Expert Lecture Series: ‘The Evolution of Digital Flight Controls from the Lunar Module to the Airbus A-320,’ Paul Ceruzzi.
Apr 4-5 — University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands: ‘2nd Quantum Universe Symposium.’
THURSDAY
Apr 5 — NASA Headquarters, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Washington DC: NASA and FAA to conduct training and photographic flights over Washington DC metropolitan area between 09:30 and 11:00 EDT.
Apr 5 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: Flights of Fancy: Stories for Children, ‘Floating in Space,’ Franklyn Branley.
Apr 5 — WM Keck Observatory, Kamuela HI: ‘City Dark: Search for Night on a Sleepless Planet,’ Richard Wainscoat.
Apr 5 — Cassini OTM-315, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #315 today.
Apr 5 — Asteroid 2004 TB10: Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU).
FRIDAY
Apr 6 — Moon: Full Moon (Pink Moon), 09:19; 5.6° SSW of Regulus, 18:00.
Apr 6 — Asteroid 2012 DX75: Near-Earth Flyby (0.060 AU).
SATURDAY
Apr 7 — SpaceUp, Boston MA: ‘SpaceUp 2012: Boston.’ event postponed until Fall 2012.
Apr 7 — Challenger Learning Center of Colorado, Colorado Springs CO: ‘Simulated Space Mission: Voyage to Mars.’
Apr 7 — Moon: 6.0° SSW of Saturn, 00:00; At Perigee (Distance: 358,313 km), 07:00.
SUNDAY
Apr 8 — Asteroid 6377: Closest Approach to Earth (1.352 AU).