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Space elevator
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===Early concept=== The idea of the space elevator appears to have developed independently in different times and places. The earliest models originated with two Russian scientists in the late nineteenth century. In his 1895 collection ''Dreams of Earth and Sky'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tsiolkovsky |first=Konstanti |title=Dreams of Earth and Sky |publisher=Athena Books |year=2004 |isbn=9781414701639}}</ref> [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]] envisioned a massive sky ladder to reach the stars as a way to overcome gravity.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Derek J. Pearson |date=2022 |title=The Steep Climb to Low Earth Orbit: A History of the Space Elevator Community's Battle Against the Rocket Paradigm. |url=https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4e65652b-115e-4410-8aec-e17dbf33a8a9/content}}</ref><ref name="NASASci">{{cite web |title=The Audacious Space Elevator |url=https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919070924/https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm |archive-date=19 September 2008 |access-date=27 September 2008 |publisher=NASA Science News}}</ref><ref name="JBIS1999">{{cite journal |last1=Landis |first1=Geoffrey A. |last2=Cafarelli |first2=Craig |name-list-style=amp |year=1999 |others=Presented as paper IAF-95-V.4.07, 46th International Astronautics Federation Congress, Oslo, Norway, 2-6 October 1995 |title=The Tsiolkovski Tower Reexamined |journal=Journal of the British Interplanetary Society |volume=52 |pages=175β180 |bibcode=1999JBIS...52..175L}}</ref> Decades later, in 1960, [[Yuri Artsutanov]] independently developed the concept of a "Cosmic Railway", a space elevator tethered from an orbiting satellite to an anchor on the equator, aiming to provide a safer and more efficient alternative to rockets.<ref>Artsutanov, Y. V Kosmos na Elektrovoze (Into Space by Funicular Railway). Komsomolskaya Pravda (Young Communist Pravda), 31 July 1960. Contents described in Lvov, ''Science'' 158:946, 17 November 1967</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lvov |first=Vladimir |date=1967-11-17 |title=Sky-Hook: Old Idea |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.158.3803.946 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=158 |issue=3803 |pages=946β947 |doi=10.1126/science.158.3803.946 |pmid=17753605 |bibcode=1967Sci...158..946L |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Artsutanov |first=Yu |year=1960 |title=To the Cosmos by Electric Train |url=http://liftport.com/files/Artsutanov_Pravda_SE.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060506100948/http://liftport.com/files/Artsutanov_Pravda_SE.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2006 |access-date=5 March 2006 |work=liftport.com |publisher=Young Person's Pravda}}</ref> In 1966, [[John O. Isaacs|Isaacs]] and his colleagues introduced the concept of the 'Sky-Hook', proposing a satellite in geostationary orbit with a cable extending to Earth.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |author=Isaacs |first1=J. D. |last2=Vine |first2=A. C. |last3=Bradner |first3=H. |last4=Bachus |first4=G. E. |year=1966 |title=Satellite Elongation into a True 'Sky-Hook' |journal=Science |volume=151 |issue=3711 |pages=682β683 |bibcode=1966Sci...151..682I |doi=10.1126/science.151.3711.682 |pmid=17813792 |s2cid=32226322}}</ref>
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