Suddenly a monolith lands near their cave. Moon-Watcher checks it out. What he doesn’t know is that while he is watching it, it is watching him as well. They are examined and they are made to perform actions to check their progress. 

 

Days pass and the man-apes receive more training from the monolith. As more time passes the man-apes learn to use more tools, and how to store food for future use. 

 

A hundred thousand years since the monolith landed in Africa the Man-Apes, didn’t advance a lot, but they were advancing physically. Now that they had speech they could pass on ideas and share knowledge with each other. Their tools became more powerful.

In this part, we are introduced to the character of Dr. Heywood Floyd. Space travel has become commonplace. After a quick flight to Space Station One, Floyd waits in the lounge area for his flight to the moon. 

He boards a shuttle to Clavius and soon it lands on of the moon's largest craters and home to the U.S. base. Floyd is taken to his office. In his office, Halvorson briefs Floyd on TMA - 1 and the uneasiness of the inhabitants of the moon. 

TMA - 1 or Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One, was found in the Tycho Crater. It is a large, smoothly cut black slab that predates humans. They have determined it is three million years old. Floyd dons a space suit so he can get closer to the slab. Suddenly the sun hits it for the first time in over three million years and it lets out a loud piercing noise. 

With the advances in human hibernation, the proposed flight of the Discovery to Jupiter was stretched to Saturn. The crew is planning a seven-year mission with the ship on a one-way trip. He and Frank Poole were the only two awake on the ship while three astronauts hibernated.

The highly advanced ship was equipped with an AI called HAL. His almost human brain was responsible for maintaining the ship. He was equipped with a voice that allowed him to communicate to the crew. 

The humans slept in rotating shifts. As they neared Jupiter, they gathered data on the moons. Bowman found the low frequencies emitted from Jupiter could not be human.

While on the far side they would be out of range of Earth's radio. There they planned to use the gravitational field of Jupiter to propel them to Saturn.

Time passes, and HAL interrupts Poole to tell him the AE - 35 is malfunctioning.  When they radio Earth with the problem, they are advised to make a telecast about the reasons for a method for repair. 

Poole puts on a suit and uses an extravehicular capsule to make the repair and returns safely to the Discovery, but they find it is not damaged. Mission Control confirm that the AE - 35 if functional and think the problem may lie with HAL. 

Not long after, HAL reports problems with the new AE - 35. Hours pass and the crew receive a message from Mission Control with instructions on shutting down HAL, and transfer control to Mission Control, but the transmission stops part way. 

Poole goes outside to remove the AE - 35 and bring it in for examination. He leaves the extravehicular capsule and moves to examine the component. Poole requests HAL to move Betty around so he can have more light, but instead Betty is moving too close. Poole screams at HAL to stop Betty but, it is too late, and his suit is ripped. Bowman hears the final screams of Poole on the radio as he dies.

Bowman knows that in a case of the loss of one of the men another crewman is to be awakened from hibernation. As Bowman is waking the crewmen, the airlock doors begin to open.

The ship is quickly losing oxygen and Bowman makes his way to an emergency supply. Bowman travels through the innards of the ship and finds the control panel and unhooks the wires that keep HAL functioning.

After Bowman gains control of the ship and closes the air locks he contacts Earth. He learns about TMA - 1 and that scientists think it proves there is intelligent life out there. He’s next goal is to go to study japetus, one of Saturn's moons. 

Time passes and Bowman has restored the ship back to working order. He reasons that HAL failed because of an overwhelming feeling of guilt for not telling them about the actual mission. Finally, the Discovery reaches the orbit of Saturn. He completes the maneuvers and begins to orbit Japetus. 

There Bowman discovers a large black slab on its surface at least a mile high. He calls it the “Star Gate”. It had been on Japetus in orbit around Saturn for three million years waiting to be discovered. An extraterrestrial civilization has left it behind. Its purpose was to help developing life to move forward. Earth was only one of the worlds they helped to develop their evolution. 

Bowman tried to send signals to communicate with the Gate, that didn't work, so he planned to investigate further. But, when he got close, the Gate activated. At first, he couldn't find a way in, then it seemed to open, and he reported that it was hollow. Then he says it is full of stars. The Star Gate opens then closes and disappears from Japetus.

For Bowman time begins to travel strangely. He can see stars rushing past him, but the end of the Star Gate never gets closer. He passes through an aperture and comes out over a huge world with a labyrinth of buildings on the ground. 

Suddenly his pod is pulled into one of the black stars. Soon his pod is descending towards a huge red sun. After going through what appears to be thousands of beads in the flames, Bowman finds his pod sitting on the floor of a nice hotel suite.

The room has all the accouterments of Earth, including food and a refrigerator. Bowman lays down on the bed and turns on the television. He sees the programs are about two years out of date. Finally, he turns off the light and goes to sleep.

As he sleeps, Bowman's brain is drained of all his memories. He is reborn as an immortal being. He travels with his consciousness and sees a deadly missile headed to Earth. With a thought he destroys it. 

Moon-Watcher

One of the gifted man-apes. Moon-Watcher demonstrates the ability to walk with his legs. His mind is pushed along a bit further by the black monolith. 

Dr. Heywood Floyd

A senior government official. Floyd is sent to the moon to investigate TMA, one of the first men to see TMA-1 and to wonder about its consequences.

David Bowman

A broadly skilled astronaut. David is chosen as one of two crew members to stay awake during the entire voyage to Saturn. He is intelligent and disciplined. 

HAL
 A robot. Created in a lab, Hal is not human, but he is intelligent. He can carry on conversation just as a human. 

Frank Poole

The other astronaut who is awake for the entire journey to Saturn. Poole is mechanically skilled and is the one who makes extra-vehicular trips.

· Prominence - the fact or state of projecting from something.

· Perturbation - a deviation of a system, moving object, or process from its regular or normal state or path, caused by an outside influence.

· incredulity – the feeling of not wanting or not being able to believe something

· seldom – almost never

· pang - a sudden sharp feeling, especially of painful emotion

· tumult – a loud noise, especially that produced by an excited crowd, or a state of confusion, change or uncertainty

· The dangers of technology