Can we build a lift that could take us into space?

Rockets are an expensive way of taking people to the final frontier, so James May finds out whether the concept of an elevator could ever get off the ground.

Space is the final frontier. Or is it? Could we not think of it perhaps as the 4,000th floor instead? James May looks at why we need alternatives to rockets, and the physics and practicalities behind constructing a space lift.

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