55 years ago today, 2001: A Space Odyssey opened. I went to see it a couple of days later at the Belle Meade theater in Nashville which was showing the Cinerama super-widescreen version of the film.

The 21st century’s exploration of space has not turned out as the film suggested. Neither of the two manned orbital stations are as extensive as Space Station 5, and there are no manned bases on the Moon. No one has been to the Moon for 50 years.

Indeed, no one has flown beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17, let alone headed to Jupiter.

OTOH, none of the AI systems have turned out like HAL. Yet.