The giant floating airships that once carried passengers and dropped bombs until the 1930s have been MIA for over 70 years. Now a California company is bringing the zeppelin back to the United States, with plans to offer aerial tours of the San Francisco Bay area.

The newly built 246-foot Zeppelin NT (New Technology) of Airship Ventures Inc. arrived in the Bay Area October 26. One of only three in the world, it was constructed in Hamburg, Germany, and transported by container ship to Beaumont, Texas. It then passed over the Golden Gate Bridge on the way to its new home at Moffett Field, a former naval air station in Mountain View.

Beginning October 31, Airship Ventures will offer rides that provide a bird’s-eye view of Napa and Sonoma wine country, the Big Sur coastline, San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area.

“It’s a way to see the world in a way that you haven’t experienced it before,” said Brian Hall, who started the company last year with his wife Alexandra. “In a zeppelin, you’re flying low and slow. You’re going at a leisurely pace. You’re seeing things that you wouldn’t see from the road.”

While they may look like blimps, zeppelins have rigid internal frames covered with a canvas hull. The Zeppelin NT’s cabin holds 12 passengers and two crew members. Tickets start at $495 per person for a one-hour ride.

The zeppelin was invented by Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany in the late 19th century and was used for commercial passenger transport and military operations until the start of World War II. Its golden age ended in 1937 when the LZ 129 Hindenburg, the largest ship ever built, caught fire and burst into flames, killing 35 of 97 people on board.

While the Hindenburg was fueled by flammable hydrogen, the modern version uses nonflammable helium. According to Hall, more than 80,000 passengers have ridden without a safety problem.

Airship Ventures has ordered two more zeppelins and plans to offer tours on the East Coast starting in 2010.

Marine Medium Helicopter (HMM) Squadron 163 (Reinforced), embarked aboard USS Boxer (LHD 4), is among the first squadrons to operate the new Bell UH-1Y “Huey” helicopter, which was tested as part of the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group (BOXESG) integration exercise last October 7-16.

The most modern tactical utility helicopter available, the Huey is the latest version of one of the Marine Corps’ most durable and versatile helicopters, with many improvements on the previous UH-1N.

“This ‘Yankee’ version of the classic UH-1 ‘November’ is making the Huey applicable to today’s war,” said Marine Capt. Tara Russell, an HMM 163 (Rein.) “Evil Eyes” pilot. “Everything has been improved, from the lift capability and flying time to situational awareness systems like a glass cockpit with a moving map display.”

Boxer is the first ship to have the new helicopter aboard as part of its rotary wing aircraft augmentation for deployment. With a new composite four bladed rotor system, two powerful T700-GE 401C engines and decreased maintenance requirements, it provides BOXESG a more advanced ability to provide humanitarian aid or to take the fight to the enemy wherever needed.

“With the resources to carry both personnel and a full arsenal of weapons we have an expanded capability to support groups on the ground and participate in a greater range of missions,” said Marine Capt. Brian Hensarling, an “Evil Eyes” pilot.

Upgraded features also include increased survivability from enemy attack with a laser warning receiver, radar warning receiver, “smart” countermeasure dispenser and a missile warning device.

Improved safety systems include energy-absorbing landing gear, self sealing fuel systems and a fuel vapor inerting system.

“The upgrades that are among the most beneficial for the crew and passengers are the energy attenuating seats that reduce the effects of G-forces in the event of a crash,” said Russell. “Before this, the passengers just had to sit on the deck.”

The new Huey also features greater operational flexibility due to 50 percent increased range, faster maximum speed, a stronger airframe design, advanced electronic warfare self protection and 125 percent greater payload than the previous UH-1N.

The BOXESG is scheduled for more training exercises this fall prior to a deployment scheduled for early next year.

BOXESG is comprised of Amphibious Squadron 5, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Boxer, USS New Orleans (LPD 18), USS Comstock (LSD 45), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93), USCGC Boutwell (WHEC 719), USS Milius (DDG 69), USS Lake Champlain (CG 57), Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21, Naval Beach Group 1, Assault Craft Unit 5, Assault Craft Unit 1, Beach Master Unit 1 and Fleet Surgical Team 5.

The 13th MEU is comprised of HMM 163 (Rein.), Combat Logistics Battalion 13 and Battalion Landing Team 1/1.

India launched its first mission to the moon on October 22, with hopes of achieving high resolution images of the moon’s topography and joining the international space race. The unmanned lunar orbiter is called Chandrayaan-1, which means “moon craft” in ancient Sanskrit.

Scientists clapped and cheered as Chandrayaan ascended from the Sriharikota space center in southern India.

Indian Space Research Organization chairman G. Madhavan Nair said the purpose of the mission is to “unravel the mystery of the moon.”

The two-year mission seeks high resolution imaging of the moon’s surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks.

To date only the US, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon.

Until now, India’s space launches have mainly carried weather warning satellites and communication systems. The country is hoping that the moon mission will further enhance its status as a political and military clout.

While the technology involved in reaching the moon has not changed much since the Soviet Union and US did it over four decades ago, analysts say that new mapping equipment allows the exploration of new areas, including below the surface.

India plans to use the 3,080-pound lunar probe to create a high resolution map of the lunar surface and minerals below. Two of the mapping instruments are a joint project with NASA.

Last year, Japan sent up the Kaguya spacecraft and China’s Chang’e-1 entered lunar orbit. While those missions took high resolution pictures of the moon, they are not as comprehensive as those that will be taken by Chandrayaan-1 or NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which is scheduled to be launched next year, according to former NASA associate administrator Scott Pace, director of space policy at the George Washington University.

The 40-year-old Cunard ship sailed out of New York harbor for the last time this week accompanied by the far larger Queen Mary 2 en route to Dubai where she will live out her years as a hotel.

“She will always be remembered as the best loved ship in the world and we are delighted that she will be cherished by future generations of travelers at her new home in Dubai” said Carol Marlow, president of Cunard Line.

“Her mantle as flagship of the British merchant fleet has proudly been bestowed upon Queen Mary 2, a ship recognized as the grandest ocean liner ever built and surely destined to continue Cunard’s legacy,” she added.

The Queen Elizabeth 2, which bridged the period between the heyday of opulent luxury liners like the Queen Mary and the more recent trend toward bigger, more democratic megaships, has carried more than 2.5 million passengers.

The QE2, which also served as a hospital ship transporting injured troops during the 1982 Falkland War, will complete service in November.

The Queen Mary has enjoyed a similar “afterlife” as a hotel and tourist attraction based in Long Beach, California.

Cunard expects to debut yet another Queen in 2010 when the Queen Elizabeth is slated for completion.