14 • Aug 2 - 4, 2020 NATIONAL ‘Rebuilding Paradise’ looks at emotional toll of deadly fire SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Almost two years since a wildfire swept through his mountain town and virtually wiped it out, Steve “Woody” Culleton got to put the final touches on his new home. Two redwood trees were planted in the ground, a new lawn and stone patio transformed the once barren yard into a green refuge. “We’re happy,” he said. “We’re totally home.” The landscaping marked the final chapter of a long ordeal that was captured in “Rebuilding Paradise,” a new documentary directed by Ron Howard about the aftermath of the most destructive wildfire in California’s history. Filmed over the course of a Steve “Woody” Culleton rebuilding his home in Paradise, Calif., in a scene from “Rebuilding Paradise.” (National Geographic via AP) year, the documentary focuses on the colossal cleanup and rebuilding efforts after the Nov. 8, 2018, inferno that killed 85 people and destroyed some 19,000 buildings. It follows several wildfire survivors as they piece their lives back together and offers signs of the town’s resilience despite many uncertainties about its future. Howard said he had his doubts when he went to Paradise to witness the devastation. He knew the town, having visited a couple of times when his mother-in-law lived bransonglobe.com Astronauts face final leg of SpaceX test flight: back down to earth CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) there, and he was overwhelmed by what he saw. “I just thought, ‘Well, how are they going to come back on this?’ I mean, here’s a region that is just getting thrown so many body blows, death blows,” he said. “How do you respond and recover? And the idea of rebuilding Paradise became the question. Can it even rebuild?” While it touches upon the failSEE PARADISE, PAGE 19 — A pair of NASA astronauts face the final and most important part of their SpaceX test flight: returning to Earth with a rare splashdown. Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken took part in a farewell ceremony Saturday at the International Space Station, several hours ahead of their planned departure on a SpaceX Dragon capsule. Despite approaching Hurricane Isaias, NASA said the weather looks favorable for a Sunday afternoon splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida. It will be the first splashdown for astronauts in 45 years. The astronauts’ homecoming will cap a two-month mission that ended a prolonged launch drought in the U.S., which has relied on Russian rockets to ferry astronauts to the space station since the end of the shuttle era. In launching Hurley and Behnken from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 30, SpaceX became the first private company to send people into orbit. Now SpaceX is on the verge of becoming the first company to bring people back from orbit. “The hardest part was getting us launched, but the most important is bringing us home,” Behnken said. A successful splashdown, Behnken said, will bring U.S.-crew launching capability “full circle.” Space station commander Chris Cassidy, who will remain on board with two Russians until October, presented Hurley with the small U.S. flag left behind by the previous astronauts to launch to the space station from U.S. soil, in July 2011. Hurley was the pilot of that final shuttle mission. The flag — which also flew on the first shuttle flight in 1981 — beSEE ASTRONAUTS, PAGE 16
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