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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Down https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Down . The upgrade of the runway to support the Shuttle started in May 1986 (h

• toomuchtodo 11y ago
  "In addition, astronauts now carry passports and other documents, including traveller's cheques, in case of emergency landings."
  • mightybyte 11y ago
    Given the high cost of every pound when launching things into space this seems at first glance to be a pretty lousy idea. It seems to me solving this problem through diplomatic channels would be a much better plan given the fairly low probability of this event.
    • idlewords 11y ago
      The problem has been even more economically solved by cancelling the shuttle
    • mikeash 11y ago
      Space shuttle cargo was something like $20,000/pound. If each astronaut needs a pound of paperwork for contingencies (which seems like a vast overestimate) then that's $20,000 each, which is tiny. And the marginal cost per pound was small. Given that you're doing a launch anyway, you're probably not exactly at the mass limit, so a few extra pounds of paperwork costs almost nothing.
  • dalke 11y ago
    Note the '[citation needed]' - I think that text comes from the publisher's comments in the book. If so, well, publishers aren't known to be scrupulously honest.