14th February 2005, 8:21 PM
Of course. The idea of a space elevator was first introduced by the Arthur C. Clarke story "Foutains of Paradise" and it has since been used in many other things, including 3001. Basically it's a giant elevator made out of diamond that reaches up about 60-100 miles and attached to the end of it is a spacestation.
Sometimes you get the scorpion.