2010: Odyssey Two
1982 novel by Arthur C. Clarke
2010: Odyssey Two is a 1982 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It is the sequel to his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, though Clarke changed some elements of the story to align with the film version of 2001.
Set in the year 2010, nine years after the failure of the Discovery One mission to Jupiter, the plot centres on a joint Soviet-US mission aboard the Soviet spacecraft Alexei Leonov. The mission has several objectives, including salvaging the spaceship Discovery and investigating the mysterious monolith discovered by Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1983. The novel was adapted for the screen by Peter Hyams and released as the film 2010: The Year We Make Contact in 1984.
Plot
A joint Soviet-American crew, including Heywood Floyd, on the Soviet spacecraft Alexei Leonov (named after the cosmonaut) arrives to discover what went wrong with the earlier mission, to investigate the monolith in orbit around Jupiter, and to resolve the disappearance of David Bowman. They hypothesize that much of this information is locked away on the now-abandoned Discovery One. The Soviets have an advanced new "Sakharov" drive which will propel them to Jupiter ahead of the American Discovery Two, so Floyd is assigned to the Leonov crew.
However, a Chinese space station rockets out of Earth orbit, revealing itself to be the interplanetary spacecraft Tsien, also aimed at Jupiter.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “2010: Odyssey Two” is 1982 novel by Arthur C. Clarke. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Odyssey, novel and Arthur, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1982 novel by Arthur C. Clarke” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1751752. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010, 1982, 1968 and 2001.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2010: Odyssey Two”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2010: Odyssey Two primary sources, 2010: Odyssey Two archive and Odyssey research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2010: Odyssey Two”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2010: Odyssey Two” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.