April 12 Will Commemorate Yuri’s Night, Cosmonautics Day, Columbia First Flight, and Las Cruces Space Festival

There will be a global observation for the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, who orbited Earth on Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. The flight lasted 108 minutes at 27,400 kph, 327 km above Earth. Yuri’s Night will celebrate humanity’s efforts in space with education, community outreach, and entertainment in hopes of promoting a sustainable and peaceful future. Currently ~110 events are scheduled in 32 countries on all 7 continents as well as virtual podcasts and webinars. The following day, Space Coast will host a celebration beneath Shuttle Atlantis at KSC and plans to feature Astronaut Nicole Stott, the 52nd woman in space. The 57th commemoration of Cosmonautics Day in Russia will celebrate Gagarin’s epical accomplishment with a ceremony in Korolyov, proceed to Gagarin’s grave in Red Square, and continue to Cosmonauts Alley and the monument “To the Conquerors of Space”. As NASA focuses on returning humans to the Moon, it will commemorate the 37th observation of the 1st Space Shuttle launch. The STS-1 Columbia flight carried John Young and Robert Crippen around Earth on a 54.4-hour mission in 1981. The inaugural Las Cruces Space Festival is planned for April 12-14 at the New Mexico State University campus to celebrate space-related activities. The event is scheduled to have ~15 presentations, 4 learning centers, 2 showcases, and entertainment. Presenters include Leicester University Associate Professor in Space Physics Suzie Imber and author Loretta Hall. (Image Credit: NASA, Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics, LCSF, Nicole Stott, Loretta Hall, University of Leicester)

MONDAY

ASCE Aerospace Division to Discuss Engineering Structures / Tech for Exploration of Challenging Environments

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Aerospace Division is set to meet in Cleveland, Ohio for the 16th Biennial ASCE Conference (Earth and Space 2018) with a focus on cutting-edge Engineering, Science, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environments on April 9-12. Organized by Missouri University of Science and Technology, the conference will see 4 main symposium topics: Granular Materials in Space Exploration, Exploration and Utilization of Extra-Terrestrial Bodies, Structures in Challenging Environments, and Advanced Materials and Designs. Nearly 200 attendees are expected from USA, Canada, China, Korea, Tunisia, New Zealand, Indonesia, UK, Germany, Poland and Italy. Featured speakers include (T-B) ASCE President Kristina Swallow, Rickey Shyne of NASA Glenn Research Center, Robert Skelton of Texas A&M and Paul Wooster of SpaceX. Stephen Covey of Deep Space Industries will speak on ‘Extruded Clay-Based Regoliths for Construction on Mars, Phobos, and NEAs’. Perry Edmundson of Canadensys Aerospace will present ‘Cryogenic Vacuum Testing of Lunar Rover Drivetrain’. Christopher Dreyer of Colorado School of Mines will talk on ‘Lunar Tunnel Boring Machines’, and Rodrigo Romo of Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) is presenting ‘Planetary Lego: Designing a Construction Block from a Regolith Derived Feedstock for In-Situ Robotic Manufacturing’. There is also an 8-hour short course ‘Design and Analysis of Composite Materials for Aerospace Structures’ planned for April 9, an award ceremony for 2018 Columbia Medal Award winner Elon Musk, and a tour of Glenn Research Center. ASCE, which represents more than 150,000 members in 177 countries, will be celebrating its 166th year since its founding this November. (Image Credit: ASCE, DSI, NASA, Foster + Partners)

Apr 9-12 — American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Aerospace Division, Missouri University
of Science and Technology, Cleveland OH: Earth and Space 2018: 16th Biennial ASCE International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environments; short course and conference.

Apr 9-13 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt MD: Environments of Terrestrial Planets Under the Young Sun: Seeds of Biomolecules Symposium.

Apr 9-20 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Vienna, Austria: 57th Legal Subcommittee Meeting of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPOUS).

Continued from…

Apr 8-13 — European Geosciences Union (EGU), Vienna, Austria: EGU General Assembly 2018.

TUESDAY

Apr 10 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Colloquium: Fire and Water in the Early Solar System – Tales of Volcanism and Sources of Water on Planetesimals; Meenakshi Wadhwa,
Director of Center for Meteorite Studies at ASU.

Apr 10-12 — Applied Technology Institute, Littleton CO: ATI Course: Space Mission Structures; instructor Tom Sarafin, President and Chief Engineer of Instar Engineering and Consulting.

WEDNESDAY

Apr 11-12 — Baron, Earth Networks, The Weather Company, Media Generation Ventures, Suntec, Singapore: The Extreme Weather Event.

Apr 11 — Apollo Asteroid 2008 GY21: Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)

Apr 11 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 BY2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU)