Airship to Orbit question

I was reading about the airship to orbit idea, and how it is probably
impossible. This got me to thinking, are there any materials like
carbon nanotubes that could concievably be used produce a large volume
vacuum container or "balloon"? I recently asked one of those
ask-a-physicist sites and was told that an airtight "ballon" with a
volume of near vacuum should float even higher than a hydrogen balloon,
but that no existing materials are at the same time strong enough and
light enough to ever produce such a device. Such a device should be
much simpler and cheaper to create than a space elevator, and could
(hopefully) be mass produced. So is this is just a crazy idea, or is
it possible?

.

Relevant Pages

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    (sci.space.tech)
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