[Steve Jordan]

It was also Kubrick's way of showing the audience what space travel in the near-future will really be like, in a manner more realistic than any other movie to-date, with the possible exception of Mission to Mars. "Long and drawn-out" is, I think, an apt description of what going to the planets will be like for Man, and Kubrick illustrated that beautifully.

I agree, reading the book first does help the viewer to understand some of Kubrick's more "subjective" moments better.