This sci-fi spotlight looks at the 1984 classic film,2010 The Year We Make Contact. The sequel to 2001, a team heads to Jupiter to retrieve the ill fated ship Discovery and find out what happened!
A joint American-Soviet crew sent to Jupiter nine years after the failed Discovery One mission. Their goal is to investigate the derelict Discovery, uncover the mystery of the monoliths, and restart the faulty HAL 9000 computer, all while Earth teeters on the brink of nuclear war. Tensions are high between the US and the USSR. Dr. Heywood Floyd, the scientist blamed for the Discovery disaster, joins a Russian spacecraft named the Leonov along with two other Americans. They must reach Jupiter to determine why the Discovery failed, what happened to astronaut Dave Bowman, and figure out the nature of the monoliths. As the Leonov approaches, the crew observes a massive black monolith and strange signs of alien life on Jupiter's frozen moon, Europa.
The crew successfully catches up to the abandoned Discovery. Astronaut Walter Curnow and a cosmonaut perform a risky spacewalk to board the ship and restart its dormant systems. Dr. Chandra, HAL's creator, is brought along to turn the infamous AI back on. HAL's programming requires him to obey orders, but he still carries the hidden, flawed instructions that led to the original mission's disaster. Dave Bowman, who
disappeared in the original film, returns as an evolved energy being. He appears as a spirit to Heywood Floyd to warn the crew that they must leave the area immediately. To save the crew, Bowman forces HAL to repeatedly broadcast a final, urgent message to Earth: "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE." To stop the approaching humans from interfering with Europa's evolution, the mysterious extraterrestrials use the
monoliths to convert Jupiter into a small star. This creates a second sun for the solar system, which jumpstarts life on Europa. The awe-inspiring event forces the US and the Soviets to put aside their differences and make peace on Earth.
