@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:FINHOLT@CMU-CS-C.ARPA (07/31/85)
From: Thomas.Finholt@CMU-CS-C.ARPA NASA and the US just concluded an agreement with the Chilean government to upgrade the airstrip on Easter Island for use as an emergency landing site for west coast shuttle launches. For those who read Analog, this is an interesting case of life following fiction. There was a nonovel serialized in that magazine called "Shuttle Down" depiciting the various bureaucratic and diplomatic hassles involved with retrieving a US spacecraft from foreign territory (in this case Easter Island). Among the more interesting issues raised in that story was the fact that the current airstrip on Easter Island is unable to accomdate the modified 747 used to transport the shuttle fleet (to say nothing of the fact that the heavy lifting facilities required for such an operation would all have to be flown in from the US). Among the issues to consider with the proposed upgrading of the Easter Island facilities is the impact on the local culture and ecology (remember Easter Island is the site of the mysterious statues). I wonder if anyone asked the residents if they wanted to be catapulted into the space age (particularly given the repressive nature of the current Chilean regime)? -------