Emre Kelly

FLORIDA TODAY

Space fans on Wednesday can listen to the International Space Station fly overhead and raise a glass to commemorate Yuri Gagarin's historic achievement as the first human to venture into outer space.

Two events held on the Space Coast will mark the Russian cosmonaut's successful orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961, during Yuri's Night, a nonprofit-led annual celebration of human spaceflight. April 12 also marks another significant event in space history: The first flight of the space shuttle program in 1981.

Visitors to the American Space Museum in Titusville can hear the ISS during a "Space Station Signal Party" beginning at 2:15 p.m. in the museum's rocket engine garden. The orbiting outpost transmits ham radio signals noting its location, according to radio operator and space enthusiast Robert "Ozzie" Osband.

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"It's a data signal," Osband said. "It's sending the latitude and longitude in data format."

Guests to the museum at 308 Pine Street are encouraged to arrive at 2 p.m.

Further south, the Bugnutty Brewing Company on Merritt Island is hosting a Yuri's Night celebration in conjunction with the release of "Sputnik," its new Russian imperial stout. The decision to celebrate Gagarin's flight was an obvious one for the three owners of the brewery – Steve Shannon is a manager at Boeing for the Air Force's X-37B mini-shuttle and Shawn Lynch is retired from the Air Force. The third co-owner, Jon Sheldon, grew up near Auburn, Massachusetts, where rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. His wife works for NASA.

"We'll probably do it every year because it seems to be a good tie-in," Sheldon said, noting that the limited-supply, seasonal beer will be available on tap and in bottles beginning at 5 p.m. "When it's gone, it's gone."

Named after the first human-made satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, the stout will be served at 715 N. Courtenay Pkwy. until 10 p.m.

Ryan Kobrick, who chairs the board at the Yuri's Night organization and is an assistant professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, wants to get people "spinning their wheels" during the event to start conversations on space and exploration.

"When the event was created, they really wanted to have a way of internationally connecting people around the world on a common human spaceflight anniversary," Kobrick said. "Having its name as Yuri's Night is sort of implying that it would bring people together kind of post-work, post-normal-life to celebrate in different ways."

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.

Learn more at yurisnight.net.

Where to celebrate: