Winner of Best Costume: Peter Collins as Yuri Gagarin (next to Hydrogen Alpha aka Bettina Forget)
The RASC Montreal Centre commemorated 50 years of human space flight twice: once at Saturday’s Yuri’s Night party and again last night during the Centre’s first “Lunies” meeting of the year.
On Saturday, April 9th the Montreal Centre was represented at the annual Yuri’s Night à Montréal party. Yuri’s Night is a world-wide celebration of flight of first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, who first orbited the Earth on April 12th, 1961. This year there were 542 Yuri’s Night events in 74 countries worldwide!
Party Time: Pink Space Girl, Darth Vader, and Hydrogen Alpha
The Montreal party encouraged space-themed costumes, and people showed up as the Solar System, the Night Sky, or in the case of yours truly the Hydrogen Alpha emission line (a costume which took some explaining…). Also present were the members of the 501st Legion, a group of Star Wars enthusiasts who make special appearances at space themed events in their movie-quality Star Wars costumes. The giant Darth Vader was especially impressive – and menacing! However, the best costume prize of the evening went to Montreal Centre member Peter Collins for his DIY Yuri Gagarin costume, complete with hand-made helmet.
The RASC info table
The April Lunies Meeting: Santiago Lopez, Marc Ricard, Tom Strecko
On Tuesday, April 12th – the actual day of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight – the Montreal Centre celebrated again, but in a smaller circle. It was the first outing of the Lunar Observing Group (or “Lunies”), and we took advantage of the clear skies and the first-quarter Moon. Bettina Forget brought some “Cosmonauts” with her to the meeting (that’s Orange Tang with Vodka), so we could toast 50 years of space flight (and thanks to Marc Ricard for the apt choice of bringing Aero chocolates).
Cosmonauts and Aeros: the perfect way to commemorate Yuri Gagarin!
