Hello, can you help me dock my ship??

[Richter]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to Kerbal SP, and although I've managed to successfully hurl a couple of rockets, satellites and some other stuff around the orbit of Kerbin and to the Mun, I can't for the life of me do a crummy docking operation while orbiting kerbin.

I've read a couple of tutorials here on the forum, watched a couple of videos on youtube, but either I'm being dense or not fully grasping the concept, because I just can't make it work.

According to the stuff I've read around here, one should:

a) get ship1 into orbit

get ship2 into orbit

c) try to align as most as possible the orbits of ship1 and 2

d) create a maneuver where both orbits intersect, with a distance below 5km

e) execute the maneuver

f) when navball enters target mode, hit the brakes (burn retrograde) until relative speed from ship1 to ship2 is 0

g) point ship1 to ship2 and do the dock

Now my problems start right on step d! I manage to align the orbits and get an intersection point with a distance of 0.6 km or 1km. From this point on, I'm lost!

So far I have:

-Created a maneuver to get the intersection points, I execute the maneuver but afterwards if I delete the manuever, the intersection point disapears and I have to start all over...

-Did the maneuver and allowed it to stay there (so that I could see the intersection point). I reach the intersection point, but ship2 is still on the other side of kerbin, also no target mode starts on my navball (it is supposed to say 'Target:' instead of 'Orbit'). Both ships stay in orbit of kerbin and apparently they wont meet again for sometime, so, I have to do it all over again...

I'm positive I'm doing something very wrong... Also when I create a intersection node, It has a T- there, if my node says that distance is 0.6km and T-8h, does it mean that the next possible intersection is in 8 kerbin hours (so timewarp until then)?

Can anyone give the specifics on how does one intercepts another object in orbit and manages to dock with it? What information does the game give me to orient the whole thing? I'm trying to understand how the whole thing works so that I may fiddle with it in the game.

I'm sorry for the newb question and I thank you in advance for the help!

[Vanamonde]

Using maneuver mode is difficult for newbies, but fortunately, it's optional. Have you tried matching orbital planes at different altitudes and warping to a close approach? Then you can try simply burning toward the target. It's not as fancy, but it's how we used to do things before maneuver node was implemented.

[Flixxbeatz]

Here, a short video to give you an idea how to do it. No walls of text, no extra information. Just pure, short, concise video.

[Capt'n Skunky]

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[CCKinnison]

Sounds like you have 2 issues (guessing from your comment)...

1: part C:

- ship 1 is in orbit. now you're flying ship 2. set ship 1 as target. you will see a couple of dashed lines connecting the orbits. those are the points at which the orbits cross the same plane (inclination). make a maneuver node at the next point on ship 2's orbit that is on one of these, and fiddle with the purple makers until the projected inclination is either 0.0 or NaN. Execute that node.

- after the inclination is set, THEN worry about getting either your periapsis or apoapsis to be the same as ship 1's.

2: After you have all of the first problem/Step C set, you will have Intersections... but yes, they may be far apart. as long as only one side of the orbits is at the same altitude, the distance at each intercept will change every orbit. you may have to orbit for a while to get a CLOSE intersection. When you get one of those, THAT's when you move on from step D.

Basically, an intersect point is just where the orbits cross... there's no guarantee that the other ship will be there the first time you get there. but if the orbits are properly inclined, differing orbital periods/size, but with one point identical/close, you will EVENTUALLY get a close intersect. If it looks like it's taking an unreasonably long time, you might try shifting the parts of the orbits that DON'T intersect.

[Aragosnat]

Also Scott Manly think thatis how his name is spelled has some excellent YouTubes on the subject as well on just about everything else.

[SuperWeegee4000]

I cannot help you dock because I cannot dock myself.

Anyway, welcome to the forums!

[Javster]

I suggest you get a mod like MechJeb, and watch how it docks. Then try it for yourself when you understand each step.

[Richter]

Well, I was finally able to rendez-vous and dock! Thanks everyone for the help

I did use mechJeb to learn a bit about the matter, apparently I was making a mess of my interceptions... using your tips and mec's approach I was able to understand how to do it. For now I can only solve "simple" orbit interceptions, if too much alignment is required, I make a mess of it, but I can tackle the easy ones, I guess some practice may be in order

For the docking proper, it's complicated to say the least. Isn't there a "docking cam" or something? I've looked all over the place and all I found was "docking mode" and "docking mode controls", but on my version (0.21.1) enabling it doesn't make much difference from the usual stage nav, which makes docking a pain and time-consuming. Anybody has any tips about this?

[Eric S]

There is a docking camera, but it's a mod, not something in the stock game that you just haven't found yet.

[Richter]

Quoting Jack Sparrow: "Oh, thats why..."

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at that plugin

[HeadHunter67]

The docking cam is helpful, but docking is easier than rendezvous once you learn the basics:

1) Before you start, make sure you get close (I prefer within 100 meters) and then match velocities with your target (orient to the pink retrograde marker and thrust until your velocity relative to the target is almost zero). It's a lot easier to dock when you're moving at the same velocity in the same direction.

2) Make sure you are in Chase mode for the camera. This will properly align the ship so that the RCS thrusters fire in the proper orientation. Nothing's harder than trying to mentally translate each axis because you're looking at the ship differently.

3) Select your ship's docking port and "control from here" - this will give your navball the proper orientation to the target.

4) Work in one axis at a time - trying to change elevation or angle while moving laterally will make things harder.

5) Fire thrusters in very short taps and keep track of how many bursts you fire in a given direction - you'll need to stop that motion with an equivalent amount of thrust later.

6) Don't be afraid to rotate around your craft to check the orientation of the docking ports. Checking how you are lined up from the side and above, for instance, will make connecting much easier.

If you want a lot of practice, with good guidance, I strongly suggest downloading blizzy78's Docking Tutorial plugin. It's not a mod per se, but rather a tutorial mission that gradually challenges you with progressively harder docking scenarios.

[Captain Sierra]

As earlier mentioned, the Lazor docking cam helps a LOT when you are learning because then you don't make the mistake of lining yourself up looking from the side only to find out that you are 5 meters off that you can only see from above. It helps you understand just where your ship is, which way your docking port is facing, and how it's moving in relation to the target docking port.

[HeadHunter67]

Another thing that can really help in docking is understanding what the nav ball is doing. When you target the docking port you want to approach, it will appear as a pink circle on the nav ball. Try and align your ship with this indicator. As you get closer, you will notice that the yellow prograde marker moves closer to that indicator. Ideally, both will be in the center of your nav ball - and that's when you know you are on the ideal approach. Then, just take it slow. At the last moment, activate your SAS and it will help to seal the docking ports together.