Fly Me to the Moon
It's 2006 and despite all the promises, we're not taking flying cars anywhere, getting meals in pill-form, or using robots as labor-saving devices (unless you count the Roomba, that thing is amazing!). In fact all the predictions from the Jetsons seem to remain safely in the realm of fantasy.
aside: Interestingly the only thing the Jetson's seem to have predicted and gotten right is cumulative stress disorder (variously known as carpal tunnel syndrome, cumulative trauma disorder, etc). As a kid it was funny to see George Jetson's index finger red and throbbing from his seemingly cushy job pushing a single button at Spacely Sprockets. Coming home with aching wrists and seizing fingers is not so much fun, after a particularly hard week at the office - typing.
It seems that all that is about to change, and the next promise the futurists had made is on track to become a reality in the next two years. NASA has unveiled plans to establish a base on the moon. The base will be used to extend the human presence to the moon with a view to further colonization of that satellite (there goes the neighborhood), as well as to establish a staging area for further Mars exploration. The timeline seems reasonable enough, though I can only assume that it will be subject to the whims of congressional funding. Still this project seems more likely to inspire public support than other projects have been.
NASA's vision has of course been painstakingly rendered by a conceptual artist. Although it doesn't really stack up to some of the grand projections of the past, it nonetheless represents a significant step forward. Also it's totally neat, and I am not ashamed to say I did think for a bit about the sort of people they'd want to be up there. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go practice zero G maneuvering so I can make the cut.
NASA vision for