> the ISS actually currently flies with a specific constant relative orientation through the atmosphere so as to minimize air resistance, using, you guessed it, a rotational period equal to its orbital period, plus occasional corrective actions from gyros and thrusters.
And plus solar panels, which get realigned to minimize atmospheric drag when the Sun is behind the Earth.
Important to note that night glider mode is dependent on the rotation of the overall space station, so that you can set the orientation of the panels to be edge-on into the wind once and have the overall rotation keep that orientation indefinitely. Without the rotation, you'd have to continuously use the motors to adjust the panels, which would burn them out more quickly, use more power, and since they likely aren't freely rotating, would cause large spikes in air resistance once per orbit when you hit the limit of travel and have to do a large opposite rotation to maintain edge-on orientation.
And plus solar panels, which get realigned to minimize atmospheric drag when the Sun is behind the Earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Glider_mode