You look up at the sky one night and...

Here is a composite image of the Orion Space Plane approaching Space Station Five.
In 1968 we all thought and hoped that this is what the future would look like.

Were we sadly mistaken. Instead in 2001 we were thrust into a war on terrorism whose enemies couldn't have given tinkered cuss on mans accomplishments in space.

However that being said I think the main reason we never saw the future as portrayed in 2001 a space odyssey was mainly because of apathy and disinterest from the peoples of the free world.
That's right you and I.

I think the character Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook) from the movie Capricorn One summed it up best when he said
"You know, when Apollo 17 landed on the Moon, people were calling up the networks and bitching because reruns of I Love Lucy were cancelled. Reruns, for Christ's sake! I could understand if it was the new Lucy show. After all, what's a walk on the Moon? But reruns! Oh, geez! And then suddenly everybody started talking about how much everything cost. Was it really worth twenty billion to go to another planet? What about cancer? What about the slums? How much does it cost? How much does any dream cost, for Christ's sake? Since when is there an accountant for ideas?"