One of the finest examples of Civil Engineering which has shaped the development of society's quality of life in the 24th Century.
It is used for lifting heavy ordinance from the surrounding port facilities into an orbital station at the top of the elevator structure, a transport method much cheaper and more efficient than booster rockets filled with expensive fuel. As a space elevator would preferably have to be constructed near the equator, Quito is an ideal location for such a structure as the city is located only a few kilometers south of the equator.
Built by the International Society of Civil Engineers, the tether was completed on January 14, 2313 and named on March 9, 2401. The receiving station at the top of the elevator tether houses a monument dedicated to doctors Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa, the creators of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine.
The orbital station on top of the tether had at least four gates leading to terminals from which passengers or cargo could be ferried to other UNSC-controlled worlds. During 2552, transports led to remaining UNSC worlds such as Gilgamesh and Ballast, and one to other planets in the Sol System. One flight, to Charybdis IX, had been indefinitely delayed, due to the planet's loss 17 years earlier. The Quito Space Tether was among the four that survived the Battle of Earth.
- The Halo 3 multiplayer level named Orbital of the Mythic map pack, takes place on the station on top of the Quito Space Tether.
- The side of Halo: Reach Legendary Edition's box has a Quito Space Tether return address.