On April 12th 1961, 45 years ago today, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. Two decades later, astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen flew America's first Space Shuttle flight into orbit. And tonight, commemorations of human space travel will take place all over the world: Yuri's Night. 86 parties in 32 countries! I'll be hosting a live webcast from the Houston edition, and it should be a lot of fun.

Reader comment: Eric Mortensen says,

Zia, a space-themed electronic band that builds their own instruments and often performs using unusual tunings, recorded the theme for a previous World Space Party. The track, Yuri's Night, is available as a free download from Zia's website.