Cant change orbit apoapsis or anything

[Liam_Armstrong]

when i go into orbit for some reason i cannot add maneuvers or anything, this is really frustrating me. Does anyone know why it does it or how to fix it.

[Vanamonde]

If you're playing career, you will need to upgrade the tracking station before these features become available. If you're not in career, it may be a bug, but we'd need more info to say.

[MarvinKitFox]

Sure you can add maneuvers!

You just do not yet have access to a nice graphical interface that lets you plan them. To have that, you need to build the appropriate facility back at the space center first.

Until you have a tracking station of suitable level, you will just have to do those maneuvers by the seat-of-your-pants method.

[Snark]

Here's the quick way to verify your situation: When you look at orbital paths in the map view (or in the tracking station), what color are they? Are they just gray? Or are they a bright blue?

If they're gray, then that means you don't have the "patched conics" upgrade, and need to upgrade your tracking station as Vanamonde describes. If they're bright blue, then it sounds like a bug.

[Anquietas314]

Since nobody's mentioned it, you also need to upgrade mission control at least once, as well as the tracking station, to get "flight planning" (AKA maneuver nodes).

[Jason Patterson]

For the part of the game that exists prior to flight planning being affordable, you'll just need to burn prograde/retrograde at periapsis in order to change your apoapsis. As long as you're not using life support mods, you can get your orbit about right and then wait for the Mun or Minmus to come to you. Once you get an encounter, it's fairly straightforward to adjust it to fit your needs.

[Pecan]

And the main thing is - if you want to mess about in space and find out how it all works ... avoid career mode. Sandbox to learn, unless you're overwhelmed by the choice, in which case Science mode.