How could July possibly be half over already?!? Not only is July half over, that means that the summer is officially half over and we’re just about 6 weeks out until Labor Day. I am so not ready for summer to be over. I am looking forward to kicking back a bit all through the month of August, however. Life will slow down for us and I really need this break. How about you? How is your summer going? Easy or frantic?
Whichever…here is some good news to set the tone for the weekend. Enjoy!

Hawaii Works on Space Tourism Plan

Space pioneers envision launching Hawaii tourists from the islands to the stars. Hawaii will be the first place where travelers can use planes for real transportation. Hawaii’s planes would take off from an airport on the Big Island to a landing on Oahu.

Within ten years travelers could island hop from Hawaii to Japan in 45 minutes. And a unique perspective is promised for the flights.

A new law authorizes the state to spend $500,000 to apply for a spaceport license from the federal government. This is the first step toward allowing commercial space travel from Hawaii. If the plan is approved, tourists would pay $200,000 for a week-long package. The package would include spaceflight training, accommodations, and short test flights to simulate weightlessness.

Dog Wet Nurse Saves Panda Cubs in China

Two red panda cubs abandoned by their mother are thriving at a northern China zoo. They are receiving milk and loving care from a dog.

The cubs were born June 25 and were abandoned immediately by their mother at the Taiyuan Zoo.

The dog wet nurse belongs to a farmer from a nearby suburb and was selected from two other candidates that had recently given birth. The dog is now raising the two cubs just like its own pups and sometimes even refuses to feed its own pup in favor of the panda cubs. At 3-weeks-old the baby cubs have not yet opened their eyes and have doubled in length.

NASA released a newly restored video from the July 20, 1969, live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk. This release was timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first mission on the moon.

The initial video release features 15 key moments from the historic lunar excursion of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

A team of Apollo-era engineers acquired the best of the broadcast-format video from a variety of sources for the restoration effort.

NASA contracted with Lowry Digital to take the highest quality video available from these recordings and significantly enhance the video using the company’s software technology. Under the initial effort, Lowry restored 15 scenes representing the most significant moments of the three and a half hours that Armstrong and Aldrin spent on the lunar surface.

On July 20, 1969, as Armstrong made the short step onto the powdery lunar surface, a global community of hundreds of millions of people watched one of man’s most remarkable achievements live on television.