2001: A Space Odyssey

The spacecraft approaches Space Station 1. Floyd looks back to Earth and sees Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. The docking procedure is a delicate operation. Afterward, Floyd is met by Nick Miller, Station Security. They enter the station together. Floyd is uncertain of his space legs after a year on Earth. They emerge into an area of shops with 30 minutes to wait until their shuttle to the Moon departs. Floyd asks for a coffee and to call Earth. The phone booths are near a barrier that has two entrances: “WELCOME TO THE U.S. SECTION” and “WELCOME TO THE SOVIET SECTION” (41). There are other signs in many languages. The division is “administrative”: On the other side of the barrier, passengers are free to mingle. Floyd makes a call and leaves a message for his housekeeper, asking her to take care of some things for him at home. He notices someone he doesn’t want to talk to and hangs up, trying belatedly to evade the person he has spotted. It is Dr. Dimitri Moisewitch, who works for the USSR Academy of Science. He is one of Floyd’s closest friends, which is the reason he doesn’t want to meet him here.

Moisewitch is a 55-year-old astronomer who has spent the last 10 years building a radio observatory on the far side of the Moon. He greets Floyd and they briefly reminisce about a holiday they spent together in Odessa. Miller approaches and Floyd introduces the two men. They go for a drink together in the main lounge, where they look out at Earth and the stars. Moisewitch asks about the rumors of an epidemic in the Moon’s US sector. Floyd tells him the quarantine is a precaution. Moisewitch notes that it is odd that Floyd, an astronomer, should be sent to handle an epidemic; Floyd counters that he is no longer an astronomer but a generalist. Moisewitch asks what something called “T.M.A.-1” means. Floyd evades the question, but Miller is flustered and hurries Floyd away to catch his shuttle, though it is not yet time. After a short wait, Floyd takes the shuttle to the Moon. Floyd is the only passenger again, but takeoff from the space station is very different from takeoff from Earth. He eats meals during his 25-hour trip; it is possible to eat normally if the food is sticky enough to adhere to the plate. The toilet has elaborate instructions but appears like a normal airline bathroom and uses artificial gravity. He reads the newspapers that are continually updated and reflects that more sophisticated communication of the news seems to correlate with more depressing news stories.

As the shuttle descends, Floyd watches the mountains of the Moon from the window. The landing is lit by the glow of the Earth, and Floyd sees Earth technologies on its surface; this represents, for him, another “foothold.”

Clavius Base is humanity’s first permanent bridgehead on the Moon that can, if necessary, be entirely self-supporting. It is “a miniature world in itself” (54). Approximately 1,100 men and 600 women live and work there as scientists and technicians. The base is underground, carved into the rock, and equipped with walls that can project views of Earth to combat claustrophobia and homesickness; this is “art for the sake of sanity” (53). Travelers must simply adapt to the low gravity. Military technology facilitated the development of this base: “After ten thousand years man had at last found something as exciting as war” (54).

Floyd disembarks and is met by several scientists, including Ralph Halvorsen, the administrator of the Southern Province, and Dr. Roy Michaels, a geophysicist whom Floyd has met on previous visits. They exchange small talk, implicitly so that they can avoid more serious conversation about the reason for Floyd’s visit. They take a bus into the base, and when they arrive at Halvorson’s office, the others leave Floyd and Halvorsen alone. Just as they are about to enter the office, Halvorson’s four-year-old daughter, Diana, arrives; she is upset that her father has been “Topside” without her. Floyd guesses that she is eight and, having met her when she was a baby, is shocked at how much she has grown. Halvorsen explains that children grow faster in low gravity. Floyd notices that Diana has “graceful carriage” and “unusually delicate bone-structure” (56). He reflects that she represents “the first generation of the Spaceborn” (56).

Diana leaves, and Halvorsen tells Floyd that the news blackouts are causing low morale on the base. Floyd refers to the “moon-plague” as a “cover story.” The real cause of the blackout is TMA-1, and they cannot release a statement about it until they know its origin, which may have something to do with China. Halvorsen says that Dr. Michaels thinks he has the answer. They go to meet him.

Halvorsen, Floyd, and Michaels meet in a large rectangular room that is clearly a hub of social life. Among other things, it contains a collection of signs transported from Earth at great expense, including “PLEASE KEEP OFF THE GRASS” and “DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS” (59). There is a crowd of 40-50 people waiting for the men when they arrive for a briefing. Floyd speaks first, thanking the gathered scientists for their work on behalf of the US president and for their cooperation in keeping events secret. Floyd sees Dr. Michaels in the crowd and notes that he is frowning in disapproval of this secrecy. Dr. Michaels, as “Chief Scientist,” speaks next. He projects an image of the Moon from an unfamiliar angle, revealing that Tycho (a lunar impact crater) dominates an entire hemisphere, which is not obvious from Earth. The next image he shows is a map of magnetic intensity that reveals the “TYCHO MAGNETIC ANOMALY—ONE,” or TMA-1. On this site they have excavated a jet-black vertical slab. It appears new, which is why it had been attributed to a Chinese mission to the Moon, but Dr. Michaels has since dated it and claims that it is 3 million years old, predating the first humans on Earth. He asserts that this is the first definitive evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth.

This chapter begins with an extract from an engineer’s report on the conditions on the Moon. It details the terrain, challenges for landing spacecrafts, and an assessment of how difficult it would be to build there. It also includes a detailed factual description of the crater Tycho.

In a mobile lab traveling across the crater plain, Floyd looks out at the landscape through the window. He, Michaels, and Halvorsen are driving along a well-worn trail marked by flashing lights. It is a 200-mile journey between Clavius Base and TMA-1. The landscape is illuminated by light cast by the Earth.

Dr. Michaels explains that the monolith was deliberately buried. He and Floyd contemplate the immense time that has elapsed since the monolith was placed on the Moon and feel sad that these intelligent lifeforms arrived before humanity evolved. They discuss whether the monolith might be a supply cache, marked by its magnetic field so those who left it there can return to it. There is much speculation but not much agreement about what the object could be; some think it is a shrine or tomb, others a marker. Michaels and Halvorsen don’t see eye to eye on the possibilities and discuss them as they travel to the site, but neither proposes a definitive answer. So far, scientists have not managed to obtain a sample of the material for analysis, and it is Floyd’s job to decide if they should use more forceful means to retrieve one.

They arrive at the excavation site and Floyd confronts the mysterious object for the first time, an experience he finds amazing; he “stared, blinked, shook his head, and stared again” (68).

The scientists working on the monolith live and work in a pressure-dome on site. It is filled with equipment and very crowded. When Halverson, Michaels, and Floyd arrive, Halverson opts to remain in the dome because he doesn’t like wearing spacesuits. He prefers to watch on the TV screen. Michaels and Floyd don suits so they can visit the monolith in person. The project supervisor and some assistants accompany them. As Floyd approaches the monolith, he feels “a sense not only of awe but of helplessness” (71).

The project supervisor wants to take photographs of the visitors with the monolith. Floyd initially finds this funny but is then glad that the “historic” moment will be memorialized. Even if they never discover the meaning of the monolith, Floyd believes that the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence should transform human consciousness. Among other things, it makes the possibility of encountering extraterrestrial life more realistic.

As dawn rises on the monolith, the speakers in Floyd’s helmet emit piercing shrieks. He looks around at his shocked colleagues and realizes that they all hear the same thing. The monolith has “greeted the lunar dawn” with a signal that has interfered with their radios (73).

Deep Space Monitor 79 drifts amongst the asteroids 100 million miles past Mars. It was built by an international team of scientists, engineers, and technicians, whose contributions are listed in the description of this object. It sends data back to Earth’s World Space Centers in Washington, Moscow, and Canberra. This monitor notes a peculiar burst of energy, as do three other observational devices. They relay this information to Earth, and the “Radiation Forecaster” at Goddard sees that something “as clear and unmistakable as a vapour trail across a cloudless sky, or a single line of footprints over a field of virgin snow” has happened (78): There is a pattern of energy reaching out from the Moon into deep space.