Everyone is at least a little nerdy on the inside. Some of us nerdier than others, and some of us try to hide it, but we all are. Not only should we accept that part of ourselves, we should embrace it and even be proud of it. Maybe this is a new idea, as of yet unexplored, for you. Well, fortunately, there is an opportunity to embrace that nerd in the form of a large social event.

This evening, Tuesday, is Yuri’s Night. Now, you might wonder, who is this Yuri and why do we have a night to celebrate him?

Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut, and exactly 50 years ago he left earth’s atmosphere and became the first man in space. Exactly 30 years ago, the United States and NASA launched the first space shuttle to start that program. Exactly 10 years ago, Yuri’s Night became an international holiday celebrating human space exploration. This year, on the 50th anniversary of the start of human space exploration, Yuri’s Night is being celebrated in more than 70 countries and on every continent except Antarctica.

That’s right, you can’t escape it. We nerds are everywhere.

At the beginning of the space race, in 1957, Sputnik had just been launched. The USSR successfully put a man — Yuri Gagarin — in orbit first, as well, and it became apparent to everyone that America was losing. Here’s what most citizens, both Americans and Soviets, didn’t know: the Soviet space program was not that awesome, but instead was made up of brave men who willingly stepped into flying death traps.

Space is not safe and never will be, but for the sake of deadlines and a race, a lot of corners were cut. They traded quality for quantity and never admitted defeat. If there was a launch scheduled and it failed on the launch pad, they simply told people that they had postponed the launch, and photographs were edited to cut cosmonauts out as if they had never existed.

The United States space program wasn’t perfect, either. Corners were still cut, sometimes for the sake of deadlines, and lives were also lost. However, the main difference was, if you were a voice of dissent here, nobody would ship you off to Siberia.

A story just came to light that, to me, exemplifies the Soviet program at that time. It is the story of the death of Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the communist revolution, a space mission was being hastily planned and constructed. Komarov was assigned to this mission. Yuri and a team of technicians inspected the space vehicle and found more than 200 structural problems, and Yuri himself wrote a document about it, recommending the mission be delayed. Nobody would pass it to those higher in command, however, as anyone who read the document suddenly was fired and/or had to take an unexpected trip to Siberia.

Komarov knew it was dangerous and that he would likely die, but he refused to step down, as the replacement cosmonaut would have been his good friend and, at that point, national hero, Yuri Gagarin. The morning of the launch, Yuri apparently showed up and demanded to be put in instead of his friend. Komarov was still the one sent. As expected, there were 1,001 things wrong with the vehicle, and Komarov never made it back alive. 

Ignore for a second how depressing that story was. Cosmonauts and astronauts have always been brave men and women who know the risks and are willing take them. They are people who are fascinated with space and what is beyond the atmosphere. They are people who boldly go, who exemplify the spirit of human exploration in all its forms.

That is something worth celebrating. It is worth celebrating the countless advances the human missions to space have made in everyday life. It is worth celebrating the advances humans have made and the advances we will continue to make. It is worth celebrating how cool space is and how nerdy we are.

If you’re interested in celebrating any of this, which you should be, come join the local Yuri’s Night celebration hosted by various aerospace engineering groups. It will be at Howe Hall from 5:30 p.m. to midnight, maybe longer, and will include movies, food, launching of a high altitude balloon, paper airplane competition and stargazing. Come meet others who are interested in celebrating awesome.