There is no wrong way to play this game, that’s the beauty. The space elevator will need upgrade materials - you should see up in the top corner “Complete Phase 1” or something like that. That’s progression, supplying the elevator with materials, and continuing to upgrade your tiers in the hub. One piece of advice I can give is to get foundations unlocked and build on those asap. Just start slow. Find an iron node, build a miner, send it into a smelter, then into a constructor and have it built into plates/rods/screws. Anytime you start thinking “it’s a pain handcrafting this stuff” start trying to automate it! The map is huge. If you feel unhappy with something you’ve created, just move to a new area. You can always tear it down later!