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.