What Comes Next: When science fiction becomes science fact

I will be first to admit I wasn't all that great at science and arithmetic in school. However, I didn't let that stop me from being interested...in science, at least (sorry math, but you suck). More and more lately a question keeps bouncing around in my mind as technology advances more and more toward what Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry envisioned nearly 47 years ago: once the science fiction we know becomes science fact, what comes next?

1769 saw the first automobiles: man could travel across long distances in a shorter amount of time using wheeled machines with engines that ran on steam. In 1806, cars obtained combustible engines that ran on fuel, and in 1885 came the gasoline (petrol)-fueled combustible engines. While we primarily still use gas-fueled combustibles today, we also have electric cars, which initially debuted at the turn of the 20th century and then largely disappeared until the 21st century, and cars powered by refined vegetable oil and fryer grease, even natural gas.

110 years ago, the Wright brothers made history with man's first successful, albeit short-lived, attempted flight, a feat that had likely failed numerous times before by numerous others who dreamed of flying. Back in 1903, that was a pivotal moment where science fiction became science fact: man could fly. Now here we are catching flights to places all across the globe. We’ve even flown into space and visited the moon, a feat Edgar Allen Poe described in 1835 in the short story The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall.
Generally, the elements of flight and steam-powered machines merge together within the science fiction sub-genre known as Steampunk. Authors Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Mary Shelley are often considered to be great influences within the Steampunk universe. Having settings mainly in either the Victorian or Western eras, Steampunk itself is actually a science fiction inverse: fictitious writings of scientific facts generally stemming from the Industrial Revolution. The phrase was coined sometime in the 80’s and has held steadfastly, being applied to other earlier writings of similar content.

While we celebrate each stride forward and remember the leaps and bounds that have been made over the years, sometimes you just can’t help but wonder: what’s next? True, we’ve yet to fully delve into the area of space exploration, but we’re inching ever closer all the time. We currently have NASA’s rover Curiosity traveling across the surface of Mars, and recently Commander Chris Hadfield returned from a five month-long stay aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 35. The Hubble telescope is also always eyeballing some new planet or star system that we will likely one day be able to visit and study in depth.

My question to you is this: what do you envision as the next phase for science fiction? What will be the next thing we imagine that will eventually become a science fact? Please, do comment (You don’t even need a Google account to do it!) and let me know your thoughts. I am interested in seeing what each of you can imagine as the next step for mankind.