Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 7-8: "Special Flight," "Orbital Rendezvous"

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We now begin the second part of 2001: A Space Odyssey known as "TMA-1" that takes place in the year 2001 (finally!).

Chapter 7: "Special Flight"

The author introduces us to the character of Dr. Heywood Floyd. He is on a jet heading from Washington, DC to the space station in Florida. As the plane lands, he looks outside his window and sees a spaceship, the one that will take him to the moon.

At two o'clock in the morning, numerous reporters come up to Dr. Floyd on the way to the Orion III spacecraft. He refuses to answer any of their questions, and heads over to the boarding gantry.

The author gives us some exposition regarding the current situation of Earth: the population had risen to six billion, a third of it in the Chinese Empire. Food is in short supply, and worldwide famine is expected to occur in fifteen years. (Keep in mind, this book was published in the late 1960s, and many people at that time were worried about the rising world population and availability of food and resources. Today, the population is over seven billion, due to longer lifespan and not due to a surplus of births, and while there is still food shortage in many parts of the world, it is due to a variety of factors, not because the world does not have enough. In fact, we have enough food to feed everybody. As someone speaking from the year 2019, we are doing much better than you predicted, Mr. Clarke!) The nuclear powers of the world have been watching each other for some time, apparently due to the Cold War (still occurring in the year 2001, but thankfully in real life that is over 20 years behind us). Based on the social climate on Earth, Dr. Floyd always wonders if the planet will still be there every time he leaves it. 

A stewardess by the name of Miss Simmons greets Dr. Floyd as he is boarding the cabin. She tells him that takeoff is in five minutes, and that he should sit in the forward left window seat to watch the docking operations.

He goes to his seat and fastens his seat belt. Miss Simmons goes on the loudspeaker and states that they are on Special Flight 3 flying from Kennedy (Space Center) to Space Station One, of which he is the only passenger.

As soon as the spaceship is in orbit, the stewardess leaves her seat and walks on the Velcro carpet with her Velcro shoes. She goes to Dr. Floyd's seat and asks if he would like coffee or tea. He refuses, not wanting to drink anything out of a drinking tube. Miss Simmons then asks him a question about her fiancé whom she has not heard from in over a week. She is worried that the rumor of the epidemic on the moon may be true. Dr. Floyd reassures her that everything should be fine since there was a quarantine back in 1998 and no one died. She thanks him, and he goes back to looking at his papers he brought with him.

Chapter 8: "Orbital Rendezvous"

Thirty minutes later, the pilot announces that the spaceship will make contact in ten minutes. Dr. Floyd looks outside his window and gazes upon Space Station One, a rotating disk similar to the picture above. He also sees the Titov-V spaceplane and an Aires-1B. Viewing Earth, Dr. Floyd can see Africa and the Atlantic Ocean.

When the spaceship lands at the docking station, the airlock door opens, and a man walks into the cabin. He introduces himself as Nick Miller from Station Security and states that he will watch over Dr. Floyd until the shuttle leaves.

Eventually the two men make it to the lounge. Miller asks if Dr. Floyd if he wants anything, and he answers he wants black coffee and a phone to call Earth. As Miller goes to get those items, Dr. Floyd observes the signs around him. There are two entrances marked "US Section" and "Soviet Section." (The Soviet Union dissipated in 1991 in real life.) There is also a sign in multiple languages that has a list of what items to have like a passport and visa.

Dr. Floyd calls his home number and leaves a voice message for his housekeeper in Washington. As he hangs up, his best friend Dr. Dimitri Moisevitch from the U.S.S.R. Academy of Science walks toward him.