2001: A Space Odyssey (film) and the 1964 New York World's Fair movie "To the Moon and Beyond", were very influential. According to biographer Vincent Lobrutto, "Universe" was a visual inspiration to Kubrick. The 29-minute film, which had also proved popular at NASA for its realistic portrayal of outer space, achieved "the standard of dynamic visionary realism that he was looking for." Wally Gentleman, one of the special effects artists on "Universe", worked briefly on "2001". Kubrick also asked "Universe" co-director Colin Low about animation camerawork, with Low recommending British mathematician Brian Salt, with whom Low and Roman Kroitor had previously worked on the 1957
Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey experts, such as the structure on the first satellite that Pietrobon refers to as a "conning tower", match the original concept sketch drawn for the nuclear bomb platform. Modelers label them in diverse ways. On the one hand, the "2001" exhibit (given in that year) at the Tech Museum in San Jose and now online (for a subscription) referred merely to "satellites", while a special modelling exhibition at the exhibition hall at Porte de Versailles in Paris also held in 2001 (called "2001 l'odyssée des maquettes (2001: A Modeler's Odyssey)") overtly described their reconstructions of the first satellite as the