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SUNDAY 11 MAY 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 A young Coppola inside plumbs James CAMPUS • Olympian honours Franco’s teenage Doha College sporting success tales in Palo Alto P | 4 P | 8-9 TRAVEL • Lima’s food and culture glitter through the grime P | 6 BOOKS • 10 bestselling books • Pearl S Buck’s last novel, a ‘crypto-autobiography’ P | 7 HEALTH • Can stress really make us sick? P | 11 The world’s first purpose-built commercial space base and soon- to-be site of the first space flights with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin TECHNOLOGY Galactic is near the town of Truth or Consequences in New Mexico. • Google’s hotel While it’s not clear what the economic impact will be, many agree moves worry that Spaceport America should inject new energy into the town. travel sector AMERICAN TOWN WAITS FOR P | 12 Learn Arabic • Learn commonly used Arabic words SPACE BOOM and their meanings P | 13 2 PLUS | SUNDAY 11 MAY 2014 COVER STORY A tourist photographs Spaceport Operations Center. Moment of truth nears for sleepy US town on cusp of space flight By Mary Milliken fter passing the sign reading “Danger Falling Aliens,” New Mexico artist Roy Lohr and dog Yoda lead visitors to the “Spaceport” Ahe has built in his backyard out of bottles and cement. It’s no wonder the lanky 69-year-old embraces the real Spaceport America in his town’s backyard, the world’s first space base built expressly for commercial launches and soon-to-be site of the first space flights with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. “It is hard for locals to realise the impact it is going to have, but it is slow coming and this is a tiny lit- tle town,” said Lohr. But he has no doubt “things are happening.” The inaugural flight of the six-passenger SpaceShipTwo should take place this year, carrying Branson from the 12,000-foot (3.6km) runway to sub- orbital space about 65 miles (100 km) from Earth. “As always, safety will ultimately call the shots, but right now, I’m planning to go to space in 2014!” Branson wrote in an e-mail this week. The first of some 700 “astronauts,” who have already paid $250,000 for the two-hour-plus flight and some minutes of weightless- ness, should follow a month later. After 10 years of conception and construction at the state-run, taxpayer-funded, $212m Spaceport, the people of Truth or Consequences, population 6,500, are sensing a shift in confidence as the countdown nears. While the economic windfall is difficult to estimate for the town that famously renamed itself after a radio quiz show in 1950, most everyone in these parts agrees the Spaceport should inject new energy into the some- what tattered and totally quirky T or C, as it is known in local parlance. “There might have been some doubt about how much T or C would be ready for all of this future endeavour,” said Cydney Wilkes, who bought and renovated a motel a few years ago and called it, aptly, Rocket Inn. “I think that in the last few months that shifted ... that maybe we can pull up and measure up,” she added, noting that the Virgin team is helping the hospitality industry spiffy up. PLUS | SUNDAY 11 MAY 2014 3 T or C’s townspeople are particularly proud that Ted Turner, the media mogul turned conservationist and local rancher, bought the historic Sierra Grande Lodge last year, citing myriad reasons, including Spaceport, his friend Branson and the famous waters of the dusty town once called Hot Springs. There’s a new Walmart north of town, next to where a Spaceport visitors centre will go up. It is not yet known where Virgin will lodge the astronauts for three days of training. It could choose the bigger town of Las Cruces to the south. But T or C’s townspeople are particularly proud that Ted Turner, the media mogul turned conservationist and local rancher, bought the historic Sierra Grande Lodge last year, citing myriad reasons, including Spaceport, his friend Branson and the famous waters of the dusty town once called Hot Springs. Roy Lohr ‘Democratisation Of Space’ The 30-mile (48 km) drive out to Spaceport America over the sparsely movie,” said visitor Doug Sporn space, about going to Mars.” Then there is that lingering question populated high desert plain is a jour- while on the Follow The Sun tour She estimates there will be 200,000 of whether T or C can preserve the ney through time. Paleo-Indians to Spaceport after hearing Branson visitors per year to Spaceport “when quirky character and Western rugged- roamed here some 12,000 years ago, would go to space soon. all our customers are flying.” ness that has attracted free spirits and the Spanish built the El Camino Real Branson isn’t the only famous artists for decades. passage here, a century-old dam entrepreneur here. He is joined by Going To Space With Yoda “My guess is that the real culture across the Rio Grande brought settle- Elon Musk’s SpaceX, founded in 2002 Those kinds of numbers are feed- and heritage of Southern New Mexico ment and White Sands Missile Range with the ultimate goal of sending peo- ing the first shoots of space business, is pretty firmly ingrained,” said Virgin made it a gigantic area of restricted ple to inhabit other planets. SpaceX, from Jeff Dukatt’s psychedelic T-shirts Galactic CEO George Whitesides. “I air space. which already has craft supplying sporting a cowboy-on-rocket motif to would doubt that just because we start While Spaceport brings a futuristic the International Space Station, has Follow The Sun’s new Spaceplace tour doing our spaceflights the intrinsic vision to the old West, it is meant chosen Spaceport to test the Falcon base where freeze-dried ice cream is character changes.” to blend in. The signature building, 9 reusable rocket, meaning that it for sale and there is extra space for Lohr, the artist, relishes the “nice designed by the firm of British archi- will launch vertically and then land start-ups to operate. mini-culture embedded in a trailer tect Sir Norman Foster, melds into intact. “We don’t know where the oppor- town,” and said Spaceport shouldn’t the distant mountains like a giant “It really is the democratization tunities are going to be, we just know detract from its charms, but rather portobello mushroom. of space,” said Spaceport Executive a facility like this will line us up,” said attract more interest in them. “It feels much more real, but it Director Christine Anderson, “that Follow The Sun’s Mark Bleth, echoing If he gets a free ticket, Lohr is game also feels like I am looking at some- you and I and our children and grand- the kind of wonder around town about to go to space, but only “if Yoda would thing that is a set for a science-fiction children can think about going to where this all could lead. come with me.” Reuters 4 PLUS | SUNDAY 11 MAY 2014 CAMPUS Olympian honours Doha College sporting success oha College celebrated sporting success with a guest appearance Dby Great Britain’s paralympian Ben Sneesby, aged 19, who competed in the Sochi 2014 Paralympics, achieving 11th place in the seated Alpine Skiing Competition. Over 110 athletes from a mix of sports were honoured during the College’s Sports Awards Evening. This annual Awards Evening rec- ognises and rewards sporting achievements. Over 200 awards were presented. The top three awards were the boys and girls Team of the Year won by the U16 Boys Football Team and the U16 Girls Netball Team, Sportsman of the year was presented to Devin Brooks, and Sportswoman of the year was presented jointly to Hollie Jenkins and Demi Quickfall. Gary Froud, Head of PE at Doha From left: Hollie Jenkins, Demi Ben Sneesby (centre), Senior College, explained how the honoured Quickfall and Devin Brooks. Vice Principal Teresa Wolfe athletes were chosen. “Our winning and Principal Mark Leppard. sportsmen and sportswomen represent the college and excel in a number of and I loved the physical challenge, I your social life and sporting success.” college’s sporting teams and individu- sports. More importantly, they show always dreamt of competing profes- Ben was diagnosed with cancer at als celebrated is testament to the hard great leadership skills and are excel- sionally. Before the Olympics I had an just three months, but thanks to family work, patience and persistence of the lent ambassadors for sport across intensive 18-month training schedule. support he competes in wheelchair bas- PE department, who encourage all stu- Qatar” It’s not always easy to get up and force ketball, seated alpine skiing and, most dents to achieve their best in all aspects Ben explained to the audience of stu- yourself to train. If worthwhile things recently, wheelchair racing. of their physical education, from team dents, parents and governors his moti- were easy then everyone would do Jan McGuire, a member of the Board games, individual sports through to vation to compete in the Paralympics. “I them. As an athlete you have to stay of Governors, summed up the event: national competitions and regional started playing sport when I was eight focused, be committed and balance “The long list of achievements of the tournaments.” The Peninsula DPS-MIS conducted a fire drill to train students and staff in safety measures to be adopted in the event of an emer- gency.

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