alternatehistory.com

"2001: A Space Odyssey" was the best that people in the mid to late 60's could guess of the future given the environment of the day. And with the Cold war heating the challenge and all the grand schemes and ideas in breaking scientific barriers, it appeared that the films predictions were perfectly reasonable. But, none of that really came to pass. The grander schemes of NASA were put on the back burner because of budget cuts from Lyndon having to choose between Vietnam or the Great Society to cut, and picking option C. And, in time, the Soviets didn't care anymore, we declared victory in space with the landing on the moon, and NASA became sort of a shell of its former glory.

The challenge, therefore is to have the 2001 become as close as possible to the film. POD of 1964 at earliest when the film first started brewing in production.
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