Dead Racists Society

Science fiction may take reality cheque (they're Australian, all right?):

The race is on to build the first "space elevator' - long dismissed as science fiction - to carry people and materials into orbit along a cable thousands of kilometres long.

In a significant step, US aviation regulators have given permission for the opening trials of a prototype, while a competition to begin next month follows the $US10 million ($13 million) X Prize, which led to the first privately developed craft leaving the Earth's atmosphere, briefly, last year.