Exploration

The author of "2010: Odyssey II" is widely known for his contributions to science fiction that primarily explore the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence and space exploration. The entire novel, in a sense, continues the author's tradition of paying homage to what he viewed to be an extraordinary field of scientific work. In this sense, each of the characters onboard Leonov is an astronaut first, and human being second. The crew aboard Leonov is even horrified when Tsien's crew dies after the alien attack, citing a strong bond between all space-explorers, and indeed the crew seems to cheer Tsien on even though that ships mission is directly preventing their own, and Captain Orlova's suggestion of the use of force against them is not taken seriously. Each of the astronauts has been selected for his or her own expertise and abilities in order to ensure success of the mission, which is...