How would the space shuttle have been retrieved following a TAL out of Vandenberg?

Question

Had the space shuttle ever launched out of Vandenberg AFB, its primary transoceanic abort landing (TAL) site would have been Mataveri International Airport (SCIP) on Rapa Nui (Easter Island; Isla de Pascua), a selection forced by the lack of other usable islands in far eastern Polynesia.

Unfortunately, Mataveri is also the most remote airport in the world, 2602 kilometers from the nearest other airport, Totegegie Airport (NTGJ) in extreme southeastern French Polynesia,¹ and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft has a range of only 1850 kilometers when carrying the shuttle.

Would the SCA have been modified to give it extra range for retrieving the shuttle from a Mataveri TAL, would the shuttle have returned by sea, would the shuttle have been disassembled at Mataveri and flown out in one or more ordinary cargo planes, or would something else have happened?

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EDIT: Aaand it turns out that Totegegie's runway isn't long enough to accommodate an SCA cum shuttle - the SCA would likely have to somehow fly all the way from Mataveri to Hao (NTTO), which is even further away. Don't know how I missed that earlier!

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¹: Upon further examination, it appears that there isn't even any land outside the Rapa Nui group that's within mated-SCA range of Mataveri - even Henderson Island in the Pitcairn group, the closest other land to Mataveri, is still just out of range, at ~1912 kilometers. (It also happens to be uninhabited and have no airport, but, even if NASA had had an airport built on Henderson, it still wouldn't have been close enough.)

Answer 1

Some work on refueling capability for the SCA was done:

Studies were conducted to equip the SCA with aerial refueling equipment, a modification already made to the U.S. Air Force E-4 (modified 747-200s) and 747 tanker transports for the IIAF. However, during formation flying with a tanker aircraft to test refueling approaches, minor cracks were spotted on the tailfin of N905NA. While these were not likely to have been caused by the test flights, it was felt that there was no sense taking unnecessary risks. Since there was no urgent need to provide an aerial refueling capacity, the tests were suspended.

This thread on NASAspaceflight.com dates the testing to 1984.

Perhaps transoceanic abort from a Vandenberg launch was considered unlikely enough that they would accept a temporarily stranded orbiter and finish the development of the refueling capability only if they needed it.

A Vandenberg flight was planned for October 1986, and was canceled by the Challenger accident in January of that year. Having no TAL return solution in place only nine months before the flight doesn't seem like typical NASA contingency planning style to me, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had planned to ferry the shuttle out by ship to a more accessible airfield.

Answer 2

Supplementary answer: I've searched the Aviation Week and Space Technology archives for any references to the Easter Island abort site planning. There isn't a lot, but everything I've seen talks only about runway enhancements, nothing about port facility enhancements. The requirement seems to have been to accommodate the "space shuttle and at least one Boeing 747."

Five years later, I was browsing some old AW&ST articles, and found the desired reference. It's in the April 23, 1984 issue in an article titled U.S. Seeks Pacific Site for Shuttle Aborts. The SCA range problem is explicitly discussed there, and

It is the position of some shuttle ground operations official that an inflight refueling capability will be necessary to transport a shuttle out of some contingency sites, especially in the Pacific.

(Original post continues below)

Here are the most relevant articles (no links, because behind paywall)-

AW&ST June 17, 1985

##‘Minor Improvements’ A Chilean contractor has begun initial design work for what NASA terms "minor improvements" to the airfield. If the negotiations are concluded successfully, all construction will be performed by Chilean firms under the supervision of Chilean airport authorities. No U.S. officials will be involved.

Under the NASA proposal, the island's single runway would be extended from 9,500 ft. to 11,000 ft., and the overruns extended and built up. Parking ramps would be added or extended to accommodate simultaneously the space shuttle and at least one Boeing 747.

AW&ST March 24, 1986

National Aeronautics and Space Administration has signed a contract with Ingenieria Civil Vicent, S.A., a Chilean contractor, to begin work on a 1,400-ft. extension of the runway on Easter Island (AW&ST June 17, 1985, p. 127). The airport facilities improvements at Easter Island would allow possible emergency landings by space shuttles launched from Vandenberg AFB. NASA and Chilean authorities still must resolve issue of $1.2 million in normal 20% Chilean value-added taxes on materials and transportation that will be included in contractor costs, overlooked in initial negotiations.