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Elon Musk Says SpaceX Spaceship Will Have Running Track Inspired by ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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June 8, 2018, 10:49 AM ET

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is looking to an iconic movie for inspiration for his company’s SpaceX BF Spaceship.

In a tweet on Friday, Musk posted a GIF of Dr. David Bowman, the main character in 2001: A Space Odyssey running around a track in space. He said in the tweet that the BF Spaceship will feature a similar track and that running around on it “will look something like this.”

During the scene in the film, Bowman is running around a centrifugal device that creates enough gravitational force to allow him to run and get exercise. But when Bowman was running around in space, he was on the Discovery One spaceship and not the BF that SpaceX is working on.

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SpaceX has hopes of bringing people to space and, eventually, Mars. But, in order to facilitate such a long trip in space, the company needs to consider the effects such a trip would have on the human body. Being able to exercise regularly and maintaining muscle tone is critical to the success of any mission, short or long.

Running track in @SpaceX BF Spaceship will look something like this pic.twitter.com/563upTfV58

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 8, 2018

Musk’s tweet comes just a couple of months after film fans celebrated the 50th anniversary of Kubrick’s classic. 2001: A Space Odyssey, which premiered on April 3, 1968, is widely considered a masterpiece among film critics and fans, alike. Now, it’s inspiring Elon Musk.

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By Don Reisinger
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