Continuity mistake: When Frank Poole and Dave Bowman are discussing with HAL the possibility of HAL being in error predicting the AE-35 Unit fault, the 10x3 grid of buttons on the console in front of them is lit differently depending on whether the shot is from behind the men, or in front of them. (01:20:40 - 01:23:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where HAL is reading the lips of Bowman and Poole through a pod window, while they are in the pod discussing his possible disconnection, they are shown to be directly facing each other, keeping their heads perfectly still, while HAL looks back and forth from mouth to mouth. In the previous scene, the two men were not conversing in this unusual manner.
Continuity mistake: As Bowman enters B-pod to retrieve the AE-35 Unit, he lifts his left foot into the pod first. But as Poole is watching him do so on a monitor, Bowman lifts his right foot into the pod first. (01:12:45)
Continuity mistake: In several scenes, we are given HAL's visual perspective as if seeing through his lens. This is done with an overlayed image of the lens on whatever area is in sight of the lens. As Dave is entering HAL's memory circuit room (red lighting), one shot again suggests we are again seeing what HAL sees, but there is no HAL lens located and oriented to provide the angle we see. A lens would need to be mounted on the narrow wall directly opposite the circular doorway, yet HAL's lens in this room is mounted on the 'ceiling'. (01:51:25)
Continuity mistake: In a sequence in the cockpit of the space ship approaching docking, the shot shows the two pilots and 3 monitor screens between them. The right-hand screen changes from a data display to a blank showing only the letters "GDE" (possibly "GOE"). The next shot is a close-up of the three monitors, and the right-hand one now shows its earlier data display. The other two do not show this behaviour. (00:25:00)
Continuity mistake: During Heywood's meeting with Elena and Dr Smyslov, he is introduced to their colleagues, including Dr Kalinan who is the women in the olive dress/suit. When they shake hands her coat is folded neatly over her seat, but before she sits down again with the camera now facing Heywood, the coat disappears. In an earlier shot prior to the introduction, the majority of Kalinan's coat is off the seat and when she stood the first time it probably fell, suggesting the handshake sequence was re-filmed after the actual meeting. (00:28:45)
Suggested correction: The shuttle lands "on its back" with legs extending beyond the engines. As in most traditional sci-fi, and ALL actual, space flights to date, the launch (and landing) orientation for humans is to be on one's back. This minimizes blood being sucked down to your feet if you were sitting upright at launch - you could pass out. So we see this when the shuttle lands on the moon - the cockpit (red window) faces up (pilots on their backs, facing out the window). When we presume that the passenger cabin was 180 degrees spun around from the cockpit seating, they're still on their backs. Any loose objects would have been stowed before landing - the airlines don't lock down your bags, newspapers and coffee cups, right? They're loose in the cabin during flight, but put away on takeoff and landing.
Airliners do not fly upside down. The Orion shuttle cannot possibly operate the way it does if it lands in a gravity environment - some rooms are upside down relative to others - why else would the stewardess do the 180 degree vertical walk? It is an idiotic design flaw, and the posting is 100% correct.
The Aries passengers sit and stand with their feet down towards the moon. The pilots sit with their back down to the moon, as conventional astronauts do on Earth. But the attendant's 180-degree walk is completely wrong to the orientation of the shuttle's interior: it should have been only 90° if you look at the Aries exterior. One assumes that Kubrick preferred a longer, more cinematic shot, over a technically accurate shot. But nobody was upside-down to the moon.