More Images from the Endymion manga chapter 1 (we need new thread for this)
http://kodoku21.blog83.fc2.com/blog-entry-2758.html
It explains the begining of the Space Elevator.
It seems that 3 years ago, spacecraft Orion crash-landed in AC, luckily all 88 people on board survived (maybe except the pilot).
So that's why it was called "Miracle of 88".
Because of that incident, AC shut it's space program and decided to build the Space Elevator Endymion.