The
way it appeared to me in '2001' & the way it was in the original 'Elite' game I played on my C64 was that the approaching 'ship matched rotation w/ the 'station, in which there was no "contra-rotating hob" to be seen (the 'station rotated as a single item,
all together), & then, in 'Elite', your ship passed thru an opened portal into what must have been a vast 'hangar' area, while in '2001', as I recall, the 'ship just docked nose-first.
The docking scene is readily available on Youtube, and the Orion comes into a large hangar-like space in the hub. It’s remarkably similar to many such scenes in Star Wars. The poster by Bob McCall shows it leaving the bay:
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Bruce Johnson
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So it doesn't seem as if a "contra-rotating" is actually necessary, does it?
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