The first half of the film is historical and educational in nature, depicting mostly the life and scientific contributions of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, along with the basic principles of rocket propulsion, ballistics, and space flight.
[1] The film was far ahead of its time in terms of cinematic special effects.
Encyclopedia Astronautica describes some scenes from 2001 as a "shot-for-shot duplication of Road to the Stars".
[3] Specific comparisons of shots from the two films have been analyzed by filmmaker Alessandro Cima.
[4] A 1994 article in American Cinematographer says, "When Stanley Kubrick made 2001: a Space Odyssey in 1968, he claimed to have been first to fly actor/astronauts on wires with the camera on the ground, shooting vertically while the actor's body covered the wires" but observes that Klushantsev had preceded him in this.