Night Landing Hangar 2

Golden Gate at dusk

Our first night flight

We're doing a test run tonight ahead of officially offering night
flights.

Our honored guest from Japan

Taking a flight with Mr. Watanabe of Nippon Airship Corp.

Naming Ceremony This Friday (Nov 21)

This Friday NASA Ames and Airship Ventures are holding a combined Moffett Field Diamond Jubilee (75th Anniversary) and Airship Ventures Zeppelin naming ceremony.

The ceremony is open to the public, with schedule and full details here

In addition to revealing the name of the ship, we will also be announcing the winner of the "guess the name" contest we held.

We're really looking forward to it -- we hope to see many of you there!

Zeppelin reflection

Different from the usual picture of the shadow of the airship. When the water is relatively calm and the lighting is right, the white ship can be clearly seen on the water.

All rivers lead to the sea (bay)

A wonderful study in fractals, eddies and sediment. The green color is from the mineral content of the water in the old salt pond. The picture doesn't capture what could be seen with the naked eye. This is a great example of the unexpected things you see from the airship.

Hello KGO

Local radio station situated out in the bay along the Dumbarton Bridge causeway as seen from the Zeppelin on a transit to Oakland.

home, sweet home

Hangar 2 and 3 from the airship.

Pete's Goats

An oil painting in the office of NASA Ames Center Director, Pete Worden, shows him with a staff and some goats by Hangar One. There's a long story attached to the picture, but the goats are real! Here's the NASA goat 'mooring' and close up of the beasty shadows in the afternoon sun, taken from the airship on Thursday.

Lake Merritt, Oakland

On our way back from Emeryville...

Bicycle Power

Look in the lower left of this photo - Matt enjoys checking out the
ship and hangar under pedal power.

Our friend the Mercedes mastwagen

Hangar 2 Warnings

Hey, that's us..

We're now finally getting to go through all the photos that have been taken recently. Michael from Zeppelin took this picture of The Halls as we crossed the Golden Gate bridge on the way in on October 25th. Brian had been on the road for a couple of weeks and this was another 5am morning for all of us, so we were both tired but definitely happy when this picture was taken.

Caption needed

Suggestions (clean and publishable please!)?

Airport Road Spaghetti

SFO road maze, from the air.

hole in one?

Even after quite a few flights, I still find it amazing what you can see from the air - mini golf, cart racing, and building supplies.

Salt

Lots of it.

It's been a while

The shadow of the Zeppelin falls on Hangar One. A blimp last visited Moffett Field in 2000, but its been over 60 years since airship shadows were a regular sight here.

One day...?

Treasure Island housed a blimp base in the 1940's. There's lots of discussion going on about the redevelopment plans. We think they need a Zeppelin mooring there. There's already a wonderful 'terminal' for us to use. We flew over to scope it out. Definitely has potential!

SF Sights - Shoreline Amphitheater

Sf Sights - Farmers Market and Ferry Building

We were going to post these shots chronologically, but didn't want you to miss them. So the next few posts will be some select vistas I took while on the October 25th transfer flight. People currently flying on the airship are also getting to see views like these!

Longer than a 747

Took this picture as we passed SFO on the way in on October 25th. I missed by a fraction of a second, but I was trying to line up the airship shadow with the 747s on the ground!

Surreal Moment

Seeing the Zeppelin in the SF Bay sky this afternoon. Watching the folks in the cars in front of me pointing and talking. Knowing that there were real live people on board having a really wonderful time, and seeing amazing views.

Coming up for air

We've had a few messages from people wanting to know what the latest is. As you can all imagine, this first week has been more than a little busy with both the airship now here and all the team together. We also have been finishing the renovations to our new HQ and having office furniture installed so that we can all move into new spaces. And the team has been out inspecting and setting up the remote operations sites. To add to the mix, our first few days of operations had to be rescheduled due to the first major rains and winds of the season! Many of us have been working for weeks straight without decent breaks, and some time out has been necessary. We do have a large number of photos and stories about everything from the first entry into the Hangar through to the new offices and we'll get them up just as soon as we possibly can. Thanks for bearing with us as we get things launched!