MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., -- The largest Yuri's Night celebration on the planet drew an estimated 7,000 people to the tarmac at NASA's Ames Research Center on Saturday, April 12, 2008, as young-minded people celebrated space exploration with music, dance, technology and art.

The celebration - the largest of 178 held around the world - commemorated the anniversary of the first human space launch by Yuri Gagarin, the first space shuttle mission and NASA's golden anniversary. Ames co-hosted the event with the Space Generation Advisory Council.

"When humans go into space, we take with us not just our science and technology but our hopes, our dreams, our art and our personal interactions," said Ames Director S. Pete Worden. "At Yuri's Night 2008, we celebrated all of these, and the enthusiasm of our guests was gratifying and reinvigorating."

More than 20 speakers including Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and SimCity game creator Will Wright addressed participants and demonstrated cutting edge technologies. Musical acts including Telstar, a new trio led by former Grateful Dead basis Phil Lesh and DJ phenomenon Amon Tobin of Montreal performed on four stages. A trio of American and Soviet-era aircraft demonstrated aerobatics over Moffett Field, and San Francisco's interdisciplinary dance company Capacitor displayed human acrobatics.

All 12 hours of the celebration were webcast live on the Ames web site.

For more information and images from Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/YNBA/

For more information about the Space Generation Advisory Council, visit:

http://yurisnightbayarea.net

For more information about NASA Ames, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ames/