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Robots in space - Robots play an important role in the movie. You can see this when they help the crew in space. However, NASA didn't use a space robot until 1981 at the STS-2 Space Mission, when a robotic arm was used to unload the spacecraft's cargo. The robotic arm in this 1994 image belonged to the Space Shuttle Discovery.

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Vision of future technology -

By the time the movie debuted on the big screen, artificial intelligence was far from becoming a reality. In fact, it was something that could only be seen in science-fiction movies. However, Clarke's vision of this future technology was very close to our current reality.

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Glass cockpit - According to flickfeast.com, when the film debuted in 1968, airplanes had a traditional cockpit, with analog displays. It was not until the 1970s that commercial aircraft began to use the glass cockpit with LCD screens and various electronic devices. Kubrick also predicted this in the film.

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Futuristic aircraft - One of the film's spacecraft has a futuristic shape and is often compared to the Concorde, which first flew in 1969, a year after the film's debut.

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Space station -

Before any kind of space station came into existence, Kubrick envisioned what these would look like. The first space station to be launched was Salyut in 1971 and had a much less futuristic design than the one invented by the filmmaker. This is an image of the Russian space station, Mir.

Now learn some fun facts about the iconic film!

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Video call - In the movie there's a scene where Haywood Floyd, played by William Sylvester, talks to his daughter through a video call. AT&T had already created a video call device, called Picturephone. But the device that appeared in the film was much more elegant and modern.

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Moon landing - Funny enough, the director also shares his vision of what landing on the Moon would look like. In the film, a ball-shaped spacecraft is used. One year after the movie's debut, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the lunar surface on the Apollo 11 mission.

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Freezing humans - It's something that comes up several times in science-fiction films, and '2001' is no exception. According to Newsweek, the United States government has been studying the possibility of using this technology in US soldiers.

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Voice-user interface - The film shows a technology that took many years to become a reality: voice-controlled or voice-recognition devices. This feature is now commonplace, with Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. 

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iPad - In the movie, it's possible to see Keir Dullea, who plays Dave Bowman, watching BBC news in a small portable device with a thin screen. Many say it was a prediction of the iPad.

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Seat-back screens - Nowadays it may seem normal to have screens incorporated in the backs of airplane seats. Such technology emerged only around the end of the 1980s, about 20 years after Kubrick showed a glimpse of it in his iconic film.

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Inspiration - According to Mental Floss, the short animated documentary 'Universe' was one of the greatest sources of inspiration for Kubrick. The 1960 film showed a vision of what a journey through the Milky Way might look like.

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NASA help - Despite being a science-fiction movie, Kubrick wanted it to be as faithful as possible to reality. To do so, he relied on the help of NASA experts. This may be why he was so spot on with some of his technological predictions.

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No audition - According to SYFY Wire, actor Keir Dullea, who plays the lead character David Bowman, didn't need to audition to get the part.

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Precious help -

One of the biggest problems for director Stanley Kubrick was to convey his vision of what a meeting between humans and aliens would look like. The director asked for help from writer and astrophysicist, Carl Sagan, Mental Floss reports.

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Alien insurance -

According to Mental Floss, Kubrick feared that the existence of extraterrestrial life would be proven shortly before the film's debut. In order to ensure that, if this happened, his film would not become obsolete, Kubrick tried to take out insurance to protect him against the financial losses he would suffer if the existence of alien life were proven. However, the insurer didn't accept his request, claiming that the probability of discovering extraterrestrial life in the 1960s was minimal.

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Alternative film titles - According to the blog 2001Italia, dedicated exclusively to the film, Kubrick and Clarke referred to the movie by other names, including 'How the Solar System Was Won.'

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Canadian threat -

HAL 9000, the robot that almost exterminates Discovery One's entire crew, was voiced by Canadian actor Douglas Rain. He also narrated 'Universe.'

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Critics -

The movie was not initially well received. However, it was a big hit with younger crowds. According to Vanity Fair, Kubrick revealed that the movie was particularly badly received in New York City.

See also: Things movies get wrong about space

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