List of spacecraft from the Space Odyssey series

"Aries Ib" redirects here. For the Project Constellation spacecraft operated by NASA, see Aries Ib.

Various fictional spacecraft have appeared in the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke. Most prominent is the Discovery One - famously controlled by HAL 9000. The following is a list of craft and space stations depicted in the books and films of the series.

Aries Ib

The Aries Ib is a fictional spacecraft seen in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a ball-shaped lunar lander built for providing regular passenger commuting between Earth's orbit and the Moon, just as the Orion III spaceplane (both operated by Pan Am) provided for travel between the Earth and Space Station V. It is nuclear powered, the high performance of its engines allowing it to make a fast transfer to the moon (at about one day, compared to three days which were necessary for Apollo). It also carries a retractable landing gear.^[1][2]

Cosmos

The Cosmos is the first of three versatile spacecraft featured in 2061: Odyssey Three, designed and constructed by Tsung Spacelines. The Cosmos is only mentioned briefly, its two sister ships, Galaxy and Universe, play a larger role in the story.

Discovery One

Main article: Discovery One

United States Spacecraft Discovery One (or XD-1) is a fictional spacecraft appearing in The Space Odyssey series, including the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Discovery One is a large, nuclear-powered interplanetary spaceship. Discovery was named after Captain Robert Scott's RRS Discovery, launched 1901; Arthur C. Clarke used to visit the ship when she was moored in London.^[3]

Discovery Two

Discovery Two is an unfinished spacecraft mentioned in both 2010: Odyssey Two, and the 1984 film adaptation 2010, but is never actually seen. Little information is given about the ship, but it is explained in the novel that Discovery Two is being constructed under the supervision of Dr. Curnow to rendezvous with Discovery One and to investigate the failure of the HAL 9000 unit aboard the Discovery One. The construction of the ship is halted after the American taskforce instead travels in the Russian-built Alexei Leonov, as it would take too long to wait for Discovery Two to be completed.

EVA Pod

The EVA Pod is a fictional spacecraft used for extra-vehicular activity seen in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Jupiter spacecraft Discovery One carries three of these small, one-man maintenance vehicles.^[4]

Galaxy

The Galaxy is the last of three versatile spacecraft featured in 2061: Odyssey Three, designed and constructed by Tsung Spacelines. While performing a fly-over of Europa, a terrorist seizes control of the Galaxy and crashes it the nearly all-encompassing ocean covering the moon's surface. Galaxy's sister ship, Universe, quickly responds, rescues the crew and passengers and transports them to the nearby moon, Ganymede. The Galaxy was lost and ultimately sank beneath the surface of Europa's oceans.

The Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov

The Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov is a fictional Soviet spaceship in the novel 2010: Odyssey Two, and its film adaptation 2010. It was named after Soviet Air Force General Alexey Leonov, the first man to walk in space.

In the book, Leonov is described as being equipped with a Sakharov drive, a fictional new method of propulsion that makes it possible for the craft to make a round-trip to Jupiter. The craft also uses a large heatshield to aerobrake in Jupiter's outer atmosphere, saving fuel. In recognition of Alexei Leonov, after whom the craft is named, there is a framed painting by the cosmonaut in the mess room. The Russians are said to view gravity as more or less a luxury and the Leonov does not have artificial gravity. The ship was originally to be christened the Gherman Titov, but was changed later for undisclosed reasons.

In the film, Leonov is shown to have a large rotating mid-section providing artificial gravity (presumably artistic license for ease of filming,) and has a large ballute in place of the heatshield. A film character comments that Titov had "fall[en] out of favor", as an explanation as to why the ship's name was changed to honor Alexei Leonov, but does not elaborate.

The model of the Leonov for the film was designed by Syd Mead. It was the inspiration for the Omega-class destroyers seen in the TV series Babylon 5.^{[citation needed]}

Moonbus

The Moonbus is a fictional spacecraft from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The vehicle is a small, low altitude rocket craft meant to be used for quick transportation of passengers and cargo above the surface of the Moon.^[4][5]

Orion III spaceplane

The Orion III is a fictional passenger spaceplane seen in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a two-stage space shuttle launched on a reusable winged booster. It is equipped with aerospike rocket engines and jet engines for atmospheric flight. Pan American World Airways operates the Orion III, just as it operates the Aries Ib. In early stages of planning for the film, the spaceplane's engines on the back were designed to break away from the passenger section of the plane.^[6][5][4]

Space Station V

Space Station V is a fictional space station seen in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Operational, it is a large, international, rotating wheel space station used as a transfer point from Low Earth orbit to the moon and other planets. It also functions as an orbital hotel, mostly operated by Hilton Hotels. Rotation of the station provides artificial gravity for people aboard the station. The station contains two docking bays for docking spacecraft and is placed on its rotational axis at the opposite sides of the construction. By the time of events depicted in the film, it is still under construction, with the incomplete second wheel.

The rotating wheel depicted in the movie traces its lineage back to wheeled space station designs by Wernher von Braun^[7][8] and Herman Potočnik, the latter describing such a space station design in his book The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor (1928). The studio model was reported to be eight feet wide (Bizony) or six feet wide (Agel), and stuffed with tiny lights behind the windows. Due to its large size and delicate structure, the model always seemed in danger of breaking apart. Kubrick had most of the models and props used in 2001 destroyed, discarded, or securely stored away so they would not be used in productions not under his control. When the Borehamwood, England studio used to shoot the film was demolished in the early 1970s, the model for Space Station V was dumped in a field about 20 miles away. It was destroyed by vandals a few days later.^[1][5]

Tsien

The Tsien was a fictional Chinese spacecraft - named after Chinese rocket engineer Tsien Hsue-shen - that was featured in the novel 2010: Odyssey Two, but did not appear in the film 2010. During the course of the novel, the Tsien, a new Chinese Earth-orbiting space station, unexpectedly leaves on a secret mission to Jupiter. After burning all of its fuel to reach Jupiter before the Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the Tsien makes a perfect landing on Europa, prompting China to lay claim to the moon. The character Heywood Floyd interprets their actions as an attempt by the Chinese to use Europa as a refuelling point, after which they can rendezvous with Discovery One and the alien artifact at the Io-Jupiter L1 point before the joint Russian-American team. Before it can leave Europa, the ship is destroyed by the primitive life dwelling beneath the surface of the moon.

Universe

The Universe is the second of three versatile spacecraft featured in 2061: Odyssey Three, designed and constructed by Tsung Spacelines. In the novel, the Universe embarks on a mission to land on Comet Halley but not long after setting down on the comet, it is called away to rescue its sister ship, Galaxy, which had crashed on Europa after being hijacked by a terrorist organization.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Ordway, F.I. (March, 1970). "2001: A Space Odyssey". Spaceflight (The British Interplanetary Society) 12 (3): 110–117. ISSN 0038-6340. 
2. ^ Craig H., Williams; Dudzinski, Leonard A.; Borowski, Stanley K.; Juhasz, Albert J. (March 2005). "Realizing 2001: A Space Odyssey: Piloted Spherical Torus Nuclear Fusion Propulsion". AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit. Salt Lake City, UT: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. NASA/TM-2005-213559. http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=406&gTable=mtgpaper&gID=21951. 
3. ^ Clarke, Arthur C. (1972). The Lost Worlds of 2001. Signet. ISBN 978-0451125361. http://books.google.com/?id=qewpAAAACAAJ. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Ordway, F.I. (1982). "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY IN RETROSPECT". In Emme, Eugene M.. American Astronautical Society History Series. Volume V:SCIENCE FICTION AND SPACE FUTURES: PAST AND PRESENT. San Diego, Calif.: American Astronautical Society: Published for the American Astronautical Society by Univelt. pp. 47–105. ISBN 0-87703-173-8. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Hagerty, Jack; Rogers, John C. (2001). Spaceship Handbook: Rocket and Spacecraft Designs of the 20th Century. ARA Press. pp. 322–351. ISBN 097076040X. 
6. ^ Bizony, Piers (2001). 2001 Filming the Future. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 1-85410-706-2.
7. ^ Darling, David. "Space Station". Internet Encyclopedia of Science. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/space_station.html. Retrieved 2008-08-28. 
8. ^ Jackson, Al (2004-04-28). "Collier’s Space Flight Series (1952–1954)". http://home.flash.net/~aajiv/bd/colliers.html. Retrieved 2008-08-28.