Sat Nov 7, 12:47 AM ET

This handout photo from NASA shows David Bashford, right, lead of the LaserMotive team, preparing their robotic climber entry in the $2 million Space Elevator Games at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. After three years without a winner in a NASA-backed competition to develop the science fiction space elevator concept, the team from Seattle on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 collected $900,000 after its laser-powered robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet (nearly 1 kilometer) of cable dangling from a helicopter. (AP Photo/NASA, Tom Tschida)

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