2001: A Space Odyssey

 

Author: Arthur C Clarke. (Now a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick)

Characters: Dr Heywood Floyd, HAL 9000, Dave Bowman, Frank Poole...

Plot: A mysterious monolith has appeared on the moon nicknamed as TMA-1 or the Tycho Monolith.
In this story, we read about Dr Floyd investigating the monolith on the Moon, while Dave, Frank and HAL 9000 on the USS Discovery on a voyage to Jupiter to find out signs of life on the Jovian landscape...

Opinion: This book is one of the pioneers of sci-fi space travels, like Isaac Asimov's I Robot became the pioneer of artificial intelligence in Sci-Fi.
Many would say that this can't be labeled as "science fiction" because it has so much potential to be reality and 2021 speaking, the future of space travel can be here sooner than you think.
Brilliant work, Mr Clarke!

Learning: We may not be alone in this universe, and we must hope that those beyond us in the vast pockets of galaxies are kind enough to be on peaceful terms.