This is a huge wake-up call for everyone here on Earth: if you still haven't either watched Kubrick's Odyssey or read the books, you're missing out.
You can save a lot of time and get all the important bits of the story by watching this Lego adaptation https://youtu.be/Sz4aQ2YbN-E
My recommended order is, watch the movie, read the book, then watch the movie again.
I thought I was the only one who came to that conclusion! Reading the book in the middle leads to a bunch of "ohhhh... That makes more sense now" moments.
According to the author's forward, the Apollo astronauts (yes, the book + movie are THAT old) considered reporting a large black monolith on the Moon.