Yuri's Night 2026:

Memory of First Flight

Yuri: First Flight

We memorialize a famous first in human spaceflight by investigating a specific moment in Yuri Gagarin's life story. In "The First Cosmonaut," biographer Viktor Sinitsyn describes Yuri's favorite toy, a model airplane that he could fly with the flick of his wrist. This animation explores the nature of memory, the kinetic sensation of launching a toy into the air and the colorful natural world of rural Klushino (Yuri's home village, later fittingly renamed Gagarin).

This animation was a part of the Washington DC celebration of Yuri's Night, a worldwide celebration of science and human achievement.

Because of copyright, there is no audio, although the animation was created to pair with (DC artist) Thievery Corporation's "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes," accessible via Youtube and Spotify.