This demonstrates the power of exponential growth. First, convertr the distance to inches: 239,000 miles * 5280 feet/mile * 12 inches/foot = 1.52 x 10^10 inches. Now, we note that the thickness doubles each time we cut the paper stack in half. The equation is:

10^-3 * 2^x = 1.52x10^10

We take the log of both sides and we see that x is 44 cuts.