I live on Easter Island and most people here are familiar with this story. The novel DID pique NASA's interest in extending the runway here to accommodate the especially modified 747 that carries the shuttle. Up until the publication of the novel they had not considered the problem. In the mid 1960's an agreement with Chile enabled the US to set up a tracking station on Easter Island for the surveillance of artificial earth satellites. Some hundred North American military men were stationed on the island between 1967 and 1971. They left right before marxist president Salvador Allende was elected into office, foreseeing conflict. The novel was first published in four instalments in a science fiction magazine between 1980-1981. The matter was being discussed for quite some time before the news officially broke out on June 30, 1985, that the then military-government had approved NASA's request to extend the airstrip, which they completed in 1987. It was also agreed to periodically re-pavement the runway, which they did in 1997 and most recently in 2011. NASA used to be in charge of repavementing of the airstrip, but not anymore as fas as I know. In April 1967, LAN airlines introduced flights from Santiago to Easter Island, and on January 16, 1968, the Santiago-Easter Island flight was extended to Tahiti. In the 1970s the plane that flew to the island was a weekly B-707, before it had been a monthly DC-6B aircraft.  The runway had originally been extended and paved for use as a U.S. base. In 1993, with the new wider and longer runway, flight service was extended to twice-weekly replacing the Boeing 707 with a Boeing 767-200ER. In more recent times the island has seen the Boeing 767-300ER, Airbus A340, and the Boeing Dreamliner 787, receiving as many as three flights from Santiago in one day.