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"No, it's for a entirely different, very practical reason. The ISS solar arrays have to rotate in order to keep their front surface with its thousands of solar cells aimed at the Sun as the ISS makes its orbits around the Earth. "

Yup, I understood the reason the solar arrays will be rotating on ISS.

I was merely making note of the rough similarity in general appearance between the two spacecraft, two rotating "wheels" connected by an "axle", and wondering out loud if the ISS designers made the same association in their minds to the space station in 2001: A Space Odyssey as they worked on the project. I wasn't very clear, my fault.

Got it. Resolves a mild curiosity on my part as your posts sound very knowledgeable overall.

So, what did the station in "2001: A Space Odyssey" supposedly use for power? Nuclear? Or did that never come up at all? Can't believe I have never questioned that before, having worked over 24 years in spacecraft power systems (10 of those on ISS) and then 12 years in overall spacecraft systems.