By 2050, there might be a Japanese elevator to space

From: John M.

Sent: April 11, 2013

To: undisclosed recipients

Subject: Fw: By 2050, there might be a Japanese elevator to space

Decades ago, people only dreamed about
traveling to space. Then they only dreamt
about landing on the moon. Both of these
became reality though. And then humans
built a space station. So it would make
sense that things that we can only dream
about today will someday be real. One
such thing is an elevator to space. Sound
crazy? The Japanese are currently working
to create just that. More specifically,
Obayashi Corp is hoping to build an
elevator to space by 2050.

The contraption would carry passengers to
space at 124 mph and deliver them to a
space station 22,000 miles above the
earth. This trip would take a little longer
than a week to complete. A cable would be
anchored on earth and stretch to an
altitude of 60,000 miles above earth (about
halfway to the moon). At the end of the
cable would be a counterweight that would
anchor the cable in space. Will this ever
happen? Will people travel to space like
they currently travel to the top of a
skyscraper? Only time will tell.