World Notes

For archaeologists, tiny Easter Island, located in the Pacific more than 2,000 miles west of mainland Chile, is a treasure. Its giant brooding stone figures, fashioned centuries ago, look stoically out to sea, their purpose an age-old mystery. For the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, there is a different attraction: NASA would like to use Easter Island as a possible emergency landing site for the space shuttle. Under a plan proposed to Chile, which owns the 45.5-sq.-mi. speck, NASA would spend an estimated $11 million to lengthen the 8,500-ft. local runway by about half a mile, strengthen its surface and install sophisticated electronic navigation systems. The U.S. has reached similar agreements with five other countries: Senegal, Spain, France, West Germany and Japan.

The Chilean government is expected to approve NASA's proposal, despite opposition from a number of Chileans. In a letter to a Santiago newspaper, members of an environmental group, the League for Nature and Peace, warned against "the great ecological damage that such a venture will bring to Easter Island." But David Garrett, NASA spokesman for Space Flight, insists that if the project is approved, NASA will "abide by all Chilean environmental- protection requirements."