Jack of Harts

There were only two ways to lift anything from a planetary surface into orbit before Contact. The first was to strap it onto a rocket engine at Cape Canaveral or any of the other launch sites around the world. That was expensive but secure. Most spy satellites were placed in orbit by rockets that way so nobody could peek inside of them. Then there were the orbital elevators. There were six on Earth and most major worlds had at least one of their own. Most cargo went up or down using the elevators because it was so much cheaper than using rockets. We still use them now.