In 1979 (1978 really), Scott was going to be influenced by either one of the two biggest space movies of the time:
Star Wars or
2001. It always seemed to me he chose
2001.
The way Scott depicted spaceflight, particularly the Nostromo's departure from the refinery and descent from orbit - was very 2001ish. Not just the balletic movement and the music, but also the way the engines fire up only momentarily, to give the ship a forward impulse, and then quickly shut down again. Compare that with
Star Wars where spaceflight requires engine nozzles lit up and firing constantly.
Cameron, too, noted this and had the Sulaco sweep past camera towards Acheron with its engines dark. You don't often see this in today's sci-fi movies. I guess lit up engines just look more exciting.
And also compare with
Prometheus (2012) in which that ship also has constantly lit up engines while travelling through space. Hmmm. I think Scott felt in the intervening decades that audiences had gotten used to the
Star Wars mode of space engine, and they would wonder how the Prometheus was able to fly through space with dead engines.
And the sleep pods onboard the Nostromo were probably (in Scott's mind) like the hibernation devices from
2001 too. More cryogenic ("back to the old freezerinos") with slowed metabolic functions in the occupants, rather than outright stasis. Hence the sensor tabs.
TC