"On April 12th, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being in space, orbiting around the Earth once during a 108-minute flight. Exactly twenty years later, on April 12th, 1981, the United States launched their first Space Shuttle into space."

I knew the moon landing was a fraud!

Laidbackga

@JimmyHACK: I remember, in 3rd grade, watching the Challenger go down on live TV. Having seen so many launches televised in school (it was like religion) I knew right away that the thing blew up but I didn't grasp how big of a deal it really was, the teacher turned off the TV after a few minutes and later my mom explained to me what I already felt I knew. Sad

I wound up going to middle school at Christa McAuliff, (spelling?) which was named after the teacher on the Challenger. School mascot was "the Challengers"

SAKY

Being in Florida the coolest and tragic at the same time launch i have witnessed was Columbia.. being young it was really cool but you knew something was wrong... we do keep going into space to try to prove evolution i guess so i guess a evolution game like spore could fit in at a little space kid meeting

JimmyHACK

I remeber trying to ge see a shuttle launch at the cape as a kid, spent the entire weekend in a hotel and the shuttle never launched.

SAKY

We *should* be launching a Mars mission soon, but it looks like that won't be happening for another 20 years, at least.

/Sigh/

nonpareil

Hey West Palm represent! Crecente I didn't know you worked for the joke err post

SAKY

12th of April is actually a major celebration in Russia and some former SU countries, it's called the Cosmonautics Day. Good to know that Gagarin's recognised somewhere else, as well =)

And it's also good to know that legendary game designers are invited to major scientific/historic events :D

MaxS

Ah, living at the Cape... how I miss you. Getting to see one of the night launches via VIP pass was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

FancifulUnicorn

We used to vacation in Ormond Beach every summer (just north of Daytona) and we'd usually be able to see a shuttle go up from the beach. Really, really, really awesome thing to see.

The one time we tried going to Cape Canaveral to see one in person, they were delaying it. About ten minutes up the road, once we'd gotten back on the interstate, we heard this huge noise, and we knew we'd just missed it. Shame.

PlayerX

@Laidbackga: What?

Tush

81? 0_o

detraya

Is Wright that proud of Spore that he'll pimp it at a NASA celebration, or was this written in his contract somewhere that every public appearance has to be tied to Spore in some way?

I wonder if Lord British is going to pose with a box of Tabula Rasa (with his watch) while he's in zero-G.

Seriously, does advertising have to be EVERYWHERE?!

boopadoo

This is baaaaad news for science. What are all the scientists going to think? They've been spending all this money looking for alien life, building all of these complicated rocket engines, solar wind sails, ion propulsion engines and Will Wright says you can travel between galaxies in a few seconds.

xanavi

I was meant to see my first shuttle launch on May 26th - now it's been delayed to May 31st and I've all ready flown home to Blighty by then. :-(

sp4ngle

@Chewbenator: The Russian Space Minute changes with every presentation.

Also I doubt they'll be releasing a video of this presentation, as it's not free to get in.

Unfortunately.

Atheist Jew

I was really planning on going to see this, but it's way out of town, and I have no car. Getting there would require minimum $20 roundtrip, I'd have to commute for 2 hours each way, and then the additional cost of getting in is $40.

Shit.

Atheist Jew

Greatly anticipating more Russian Space Minute. Does he change it ever, and is it a recurring thing?

Chewbenator

@Tush: It's a joke about how the first shuttle was launched in '81. He's being obtuse regarding the previous rocket launches that landed the US on the moon, and combining that with the "MOON LANDING FRAUD" tin foil hat theorist angle. Them's jokes, son.

Mansteak

I really hope someone youtubes his speech.

PsycheDiver

Will Wright speaking is awesome, but when I first saw this, I did not think to myself, "Oh wow, Will Wright!" Instead, i thought, "Oh man, this is the cool thing where FREEZEPOP is performing!" How can this not be mentioned in the article?

kicking222

Yuri Gagarin wasn't really the first man in space. No really. The first guy the Russians sent up got knocked unconscious and when he came down they weren't sure if he was alive so they didn't release any footage. Then Gagarin did OK so they sent the films out, nothing newsworthy was live back then really (just game/talk shows.) Anyway Gagrin will go down in history as the first man in space when he really wasn't, neat huh?

GOLD5

Will Wright talking at nasa would be like Steven Hawking showing up at Barnes and Noble. It just shouldn't fucking happen because they don't fucking mix.

Rebelphoenix83

@Rebelphoenix83: Yeah...you obviously haven't seen any of Will Wright's presentations or you wouldn't be talking straight out of your ass. Wright is an amateur astronomer and has been a huge supporter of the space program for years. He has one of the largest collections of Soviet space technology on the planet and the whole reason he decided to make sport was for his love of astrobiology and astronomy. He's speaking at this event for very good reasons.

Atheist Jew