markb@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Mark Biggar) (06/21/85)
It appears that the novel 'Shuttle Down' by Lee Corry has done some good:
SANTIAGO (UPI) - The military government has approved a National
Aeronautics and Space Administration plan to build an emergency space
shuttle landing site on Easter Island, 2,000 miles off the Chilean
coast.
"The decision has been taken. All that is needed now is for
President (Augusto) Pinochet to approve the agreement with NASA."
said Adm. Jose Toribio Merino.
NASA proposed lengthening the present runway on the small South
Pacific island by 400 meters so the space shuttle can land there in the
case of an aborted takeoff.
The NASA plan required approval by the four-man junta that
acts as Clile's legislature.
Critics claim it will damage the island's unique collection
of massive heads carved out of volcanic stone by unknown sculptors
many centuries ago, and it will turn the polynesian possession into a
U.S. military base.
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Mark Biggar
{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,akgua,sdcsvax}!sdcrdcf!markb