Size Matters!

When I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, I naturally assumed the Discovery One (the main ship in the film) was massive. And why not? Director Stanley Kubrick deliberately shot the highly detailed model to make it look impressively huge, as it slowwwwwly crawled into frame over a full minute of screen time.

Heck, even its profile suggests length, as the ship looks like it's a mile long.

Turns out I was completely wrong!

Today I found out that Discovery One was surprisingly dinky! Here it is next to the original USS Enterprise for comparison. 

The Enterprise was (will be?) 947 feet long, while the Discovery is scant 400 feet! Less than half the length of the Enterprise! Who knew?

Even more amazing, the entire habitable area of the Discovery One is in that tiny ball at the front! The rest of the ship is made up of cargo containers and the engine module!

Mind officially blown!