It looks like all they had to do was be patient until they had a suitable taxiway and runway ready. Mid-August probably would have been a good time to use the dirt field. While waiting for that window, they could have thoroughly prepared and discussed how to deal with emergencies like fires or ...
This is a good scene! Some of the old Star Trek's were silly monster shows, but this episode was one of the good, serious, grown-up ones.
I think this episode is the kind of thing Roddenberry had in mind for the show originally. But probably the network pressured them to produce dumb monster ...
It looks like all they had to do was be patient until they had a suitable taxiway and runway ready. Mid-August probably would have been a good time to use the dirt field. While waiting for that window, they could have thoroughly prepared and discussed how to deal with emergencies like fires or ...