Christchurch families are being invited to take part in a day of rockets, science, and space exploration during the upcoming school holidays. The Christchurch Rocketeers’ Yuri’s Night Aeronautical Expo 2025 will be held on 12 April at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, offering a full day of free activities and space-themed experiences.

The event will include interactive exhibits, talks from space experts, and real rocket launches. Among the special guests are members of No. 40 Squadron, who will talk about the historic February landing of the NZ7001 Hercules at the museum.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to meet a Canterbury astrobiologist whose experiment is currently on the International Space Station, as well as the Mission Director of NASA’s SOFIA missions.

Organisers say the expo is designed to inspire people of all ages, with opportunities to learn about aircraft maintenance careers, explore a planetarium, operate a Mars Rover, and understand how rockets work.

Guests will also be able to send a postcard to space and hear from one of the world’s youngest high-power rocketry certificate holders, who is from Christchurch.

The event will coincide with the museum’s C-130 Hercules Open Days, giving visitors the rare chance to explore the aircraft up close. The hangar housing the Hercules is wheelchair accessible, and an accessible hour from 9am to 10am will be held each day for deaf and disabled visitors.

While entry to the expo is free, the museum is encouraging attendees to donate what they can to help create a permanent home for its C-130H Hercules and P-3K2 Orion aircraft, which are currently preserved in hangars too large for the museum’s existing display spaces.

More details about the expo can be found at www.christchurchrocketeers.space/yurisnight.