According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences recently went on a Treat Yo’ Self shopping spree and came home with a miniature spaceship prop that was used in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. “The Aries 1B trans-lunar space shuttle,” which is seen in the film when William Sylvester’s Dr. Floyd flies to the moon to examine the monolith, cost the Academy $344,000 and it will be going on display when the Academy Museum opens in 2017.
That’s the official story, at least. We’ve seen Room 237, though, so we know that everything related to a Kubrick film is actually an elaborate secret meant to cover up some other elaborate secret. So what’s the Academy planning to do with this tiny spaceship? Obviously, it’s planning to fake another moon landing. After all, the $300,000 it spent on this thing is probably more money than what the government gives NASA these days.
Here’s a picture of the actual thing, which will save you from having to go to the “museum” they’re going to put it in: