Please forward to all of your contacts.  We would like to get as many educators, students and members of the general public to participate in this event. 
 Media personnel should contact Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto at Veronica@yurisnight.net
I am pleased to annouce that the Phoenix Chapter of the NSS will be hosting the first annual Yuri’s Space Exploration Day 2008 at the Peoria Challenger Space Center, April 12, 2008 from 10am-4pm.
 
For more information about this event please visit the following website: http://yurisnightphoenixaz.wordpress.com/
 
For directions and admission prices to the event, please visit the Arizona Challenger Space Center at:  http://azchallenger.org/
 
We hope that you can come out to support Arizona’s local space organizations!
 
We have a great line up of speakers and we willhave the honor of having Robert McCall come and plant a Moon Tree at our event!
 
Here is what we have thus far:
 
Saturday, April 12, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Challenger Space Center
General Admission fees apply
Discover. Explore. Celebrate.
Join us at the Challenger Space Center for a day
of fun, interactive activities in remembrance
of Yuri Gagarin, a Russian Cosmonaut, who
back in 1961 became the first human
ever to travel in outer space!
 
Special guest speakers include:
«     Robert McCall, World-renowned space artist
«     Stacy Sklar, NAU, Exopaleontologist
«     Chuck Lesher, Award-winning author on space exploration
«     Patrick Lonchar, The Planetary Society
«     Jonathan Hill, ASU Mars Space Flight Facility
«     Dr. David Williams, ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration
«     Greg Rucker, The National Space Society
Don’t miss the special exhibit booths and a performance by the Desert Winds Steel Orchestra
 
Come celebrate with us as we plant our
very own Moon Tree! 2 p.m.
To honor Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) and Sir Arthur Clarke, (1917-2008) author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and a pioneer in the science of satellite communications, world renowned artist Robert McCall will plant a sapling on the grounds of the Challenger Center as a living monument of America’s first visit to the moon and to promote the visions of Sir Arthur C. Clarke. 
The sapling is taken from seeds from the original Moon Tree that was planted years ago after astronaut Stuart Roosa took with him dozens of pine, sycamore, fir, sweet gum and redwood seeds into outer space during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. 
Over the years, Moon Trees have been planted all over the world as a symbol of space exploration including one at the White House, the NASA Space Center, in Brazil, Switzerland and Japan.
 
Circling the Earth in the orbital spacecraft, I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the World! Let us safeguard and enhance this beauty – not destroy it.
-Yuri Gagarin,
      Russian Cosmonaut
and first human in space.
April 12, 1961
 
If you would like to Volunteer at this event, please contact the Yuri’s Space Exploration Day Party Hostess, Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto, at:  Veronica@yurisnight.net