I’ve seen this on a couple of websites lately (here and here) but don’t know who to give credit to.
The last sentence deserves comment: “If built, a space shuttle that docs [sp] at the top could be reached by the space elevator, thus eliminating the need for the shuttle to travel through Earth’s atmosphere and therefore greatly reducing the cost of space travel.” The space shuttle was designed to re-enter the atmosphere as it had wings and landing gear and drag-chutes and all that good stuff. If you were going to build a spacecraft that took people / cargo from a space elevator to Point A or Point B, then you wouldn’t need those (and related) items, you could build spacecraft that were optimally designed to travel in space.
Plus, being a bit pedantic, a space “shuttle” could dock anywhere along the length of a space elevator where docking facilities existed, not just at the top.
Anyway, yes Peter, yes…