Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site iddic.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!amd!pesnta!hplabs!tektronix!orca!iddic!scottb From: scottb@iddic.UUCP (scott bigger) Newsgroups: net.columbia Subject: Re: Re: Chile Agrees to Provide Easter Island for Emergency Landings Message-ID: <2132@iddic.UUCP> Date: Mon, 19-Aug-85 12:35:56 EDT Article-I.D.: iddic.2132 Posted: Mon Aug 19 12:35:56 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 23-Aug-85 07:58:03 EDT References: <4102@alice.UUCP> <383@im4u.UUCP> <249@sesame.UUCP> <358@baylor.UUCP> <1807@bmcg.UUCP> Reply-To: scottb@iddic.UUCP (Scott Bigger) Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR Lines: 34 In article <1807@bmcg.UUCP> stanley@bmcg.UUCP (Stanley S. Acton) writes: >> > > In article <4102@alice.UUCP> alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) writes: >> > > >The U.S. and Chile today signed an eight year pact under which >> > > > ...... >> Anyone read "Shuttle Down", by G. Hank Stine? >> -- > >That is suppose to be Shuttle Down by LEE CORREY. >-- Of 'course you all knew already that Lee Correy is G. Harry Stine's pen name (for fiction) so I won't bother you with that. More importantly, the book is not bad, not great, but not bad. Have you folks thought seriously about the implications of a shuttle being forced to land in possibly unfriendly territory? In Shuttle Down, Easter Island was not a contingency landing sight, it just happened to be the only possible place to land without ending up in the drink. Correy (Stine) studied the political ramifications (CIA and KGB everywhere); with good 'cause. Both the US and the Soviet Union are signatory to a treaty on the safe return of astronauts/cosmonauts as well as taking care of what happens when things fall on other countries. We got pretty lucky with Skylab. How many of you remember the Cosmos 901 (#?) that fell on Canada; didn't hit anyone but the nuclear power source is responsible for the injury (or did they die?) of two Canadians. USSR attitude followed the lines of "Sorry, we don't want it back, no we won't clean it up, it's too bad if someone got hurt, and besides that we deny that it's even ours, so there." A shuttle crew being forced to land in Warsaw Pact nations would no doubt be treated as infiltrators in a thinly veiled imperialist attempt to spy on the motherland. The shuttle would be held as evidence. Surprise, surprise. I wonder what the NASA contingency is for such an event, I'm not even sure what the official plan states. Interesting problem. Scott Bigger tektronix!iddic!scottb Forgive my lack of paragraphs.