12A • Sunday, April 20, 2014 • Daily Corinthian
Boston braces for huge wave of marathon visitors BY PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press
BOSTON — With an expanded field of runners and the memory of last year’s bombings elevating interest in one of the world’s great races, the 2014 Boston Marathon could bring an unprecedented wave of visitors and an influx of tourism dollars to the area. Race organizers, in the aftermath of the twin bombings that killed three spectators and injured more than 260 people, expanded the field of runners by 9,000, to nearly 36,000. The majority — more than 21,000 — hail from U.S. states outside of New England. Another 5,330 or so will come from more than 70 foreign countries. The rest will come from Massachusetts and surrounding states. More spectators are also expected to line the 26.2-mile course, which starts west of Boston in Hopkinton and ends downtown on Boylston Street. Some 500,000 spectators typi-
“I’m going back because I want my kids and everyone else to know that this race will continue to stand for all that is good and right in life, and that no person or act will every take that away.” Sarah Stenn A Sagaponack, N.Y., resident, who finished last year’s marathon about 45 minutes before the bombs detonated cally line the race route; this year, officials estimate the crowds might exceed a million on Monday. Nothing could keep Sarah Stenn, who lives in Sagaponack, N.Y., and finished last year’s marathon about 45 minutes before the bombs detonated, from returning. “Last year, we all saw the worst of humanity, and it was met by the best of humanity,” said Stenn, who is making the trip with her husband, two daughters and her 87-year-old father. “I’m going back because
I want my kids and everyone else to know that this race will continue to stand for all that is good and right in life, and that no person or act will every take that away.” Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, expects the marathon will generate more than $175 million in economic activity over about five days. That’s up from previous year projections of $130 million to $140 million. “This is not a one-day race,” Moscaritolo said. “It’s never
been, and I think this year it will be far from that. ... For all sorts of reasons, people are coming out, and they want to stand with the runners and make a statement of support.” Despite the likely economic boon, local businesses are not focused on the bottom line, officials say. “It’s hard to talk about it in dollars and cents, because people’s lives have been lost,” Moscaritolo said. “The bottom line is that people had promised this race would come back bigger and stronger than ever before, and, by the looks of it, that is going to be the case.” One clear sign of how busy the Boston area is expected to be this weekend is the pace for hotel bookings. Officials say this year’s demand has been the strongest since perhaps the race’s centennial in 1996. Moscaritolo estimated earlier this week that the occupancy rate in the 23,000 or so hotel rooms in Boston and Cambridge
was at nearly 90 percent. That’s up from about 83 to 84 percent for previous marathons, said Moscaritolo, adding that there are still plenty of options for last minute travelers, with some 27,000 more hotel rooms elsewhere in Greater Boston. Officials at Marathon Tours & Travel, the official travel agency for the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the race, say they are working with hotels south and west of the city to help meet demand. “Most of the time, we’re usually looking at hotels toward the finish line because people want to finish the race and get right back to their room,” said Kelly McLay, the company’s sales and marketing manager. And it’s not just the marathon putting pressure on hotels, said Paul Sacco, of the Massachusetts Lodging Association. This year’s race comes at a busy travel time overall, coinciding with Passover, Easter and spring breaks.
NASA’s space station Robonaut getting legs BY MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Robonaut, the first out-of-this-world humanoid, is finally getting its space legs. For three years, Robonaut has had to manage from the waist up. This new pair of legs means the experimental robot — now stuck on a pedestal — is going mobile at the International Space Station. “Legs are going to really kind of open up the robot’s horizons,” said Robert Ambrose from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. It’s the next big step in NASA’s quest to develop robotic helpers for astronauts. With legs, the 8-foot Robonaut will be able to climb throughout the 260-mile-high outpost, performing mundane cleaning chores and fetching things for the human crew. The robot’s gangly, contortionist-bending legs are packed aboard a SpaceX supply ship that launched Friday, more than a month late. It was the private company’s fourth shipment to the space station for NASA and is due to arrive Easter Sunday morning. Robonaut 2 — R2 for short — has been counting down the days. “Legs are on the way!” read a message Friday on its Twitter account, @AstroRobonaut. (OK, so it’s actually a Johnson Space Center spokesman who’s doing the tweeting.) Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s unmanned capsule, Dragon, holds about 2 tons of space station supplies and experiments, Robonaut’s legs included. Until a battery backpack arrives on another supply ship later this year, the multimilliondollar robot will need a power extension cord to stretch its legs, limiting its testing area to the U.S.
“Legs are going to really kind of open up the robot’s horizons.” Robert Ambrose NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston side of the space station. Testing should start in a few months. Each leg — 4 feet, 8 inches long — has seven joints. Instead of feet, there are grippers, each with a light, camera and sensor for building 3-D maps. “Imagine monkey feet with eyes in the palm of each foot,” Ambrose said. NASA engineers based the design on the tether attachments used by spacewalking astronauts. The legs cost $6 million to develop and another $8 million to build and certify for flight. The torso with head and arms delivered by space shuttle Discovery in 2011 on its final flight cost $2.5 million, not counting the untold millions of dollars spent on development and testing. Ambrose acknowledges the legs are “a little creepy” when they move because of the number of joints and the range of motion. “I hope my knee never bends that many degrees, but Robonaut has no problems at all,” said Ambrose, chief of software, robotics and simulation division at Johnson. The grippers will latch onto handrails inside the space station, keeping Robonaut’s hands free for working and carrying things. Expect slow going: just inches a second. If Robonaut bumps into something, it will pause. A good shove will shut it down. “The robot’s not going to have as much fun as the astronauts,” Ambrose said. “No jumping, no somersaults, no flying.”
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