Braunian motion.
It's not sufficient justification to have a shuttle solely to return hardware to Earth. A suitably sized robotic aeroshell that is launched empty, would be more cost effective for a return, assuming the need for hardware return is exigent. In practice though, it's probably cheaper to build multiple widgets (things to be returned) and launch another when needed.
The availability of a space elevator changes the relative value of your Von Braunian space architecture notions to very inoptimal. I don't see many people crossing the Atlantic via blimp anymore.